In 2025, fire departments serving Centreville responded to 136 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $571K 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 68% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
757 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 154 | — | |
| 2022 | 106 | -31.2% | |
| 2023 | 176 | +66.0% | |
| 2024 | 185 | +5.1% | |
| 2025 | 136 | -26.5% |
For the 15 building fires Centreville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 247 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 | Outside area, other | 44 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 38 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Other | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 61 | 24.7% |
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 Centreville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 77 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Cigarette | 29 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 16 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Centreville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $571,140 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $144,605 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $79,951 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $54,339 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,721 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Centreville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,028 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,021 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Other causes | 1,989 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,200 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 26.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 16.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Centreville. 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.