In 2025, fire departments serving Buena Vista responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $416K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 51 | — | |
| 2025 | 82 | +60.8% |
* Well below Buena Vista's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 11 building fires Buena Vista departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Buena Vista mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 53.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Buena Vista departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Buena Vista sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 86,713 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 10.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 8.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,206 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,057 | 14.6 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Buena Vista. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Buena Vista.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.