In 2025, fire departments serving Chesapeake responded to 71 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 76% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
369 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 67 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | -16.4% | |
| 2023 | 88 | +57.1% | |
| 2024 | 87 | -1.1% | |
| 2025 | 71 | -18.4% |
For the 29 building fires Chesapeake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 134 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 | 25 | 18.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 15 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 22.4% |
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 Chesapeake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Match | 16 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 12 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chesapeake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chesapeake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 43,846 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,328 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,082 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,865 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,250 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,090 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,934 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,769 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,739 | 35.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,640 | 36.1 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Ohio cities with population within ±25% of Chesapeake. 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.