In 2025, fire departments serving Burke responded to 77 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $86K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
414 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 81 | — | |
| 2022* | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 109 | — | |
| 2024 | 102 | -6.4% | |
| 2025 | 77 | -24.5% |
* Well below Burke'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 5 building fires Burke departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 112 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 | 18 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 29.5% |
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 Burke mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 41 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 10 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burke departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $85,870 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $24,973 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $11,193 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burke sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,994 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 14.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 15.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Burke. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.