In 2025, fire departments serving Chester responded to 358 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 46% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,038 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $12.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 387 | — | |
| 2022 | 420 | +8.5% | |
| 2023 | 447 | +6.4% | |
| 2024 | 426 | -4.7% | |
| 2025 | 358 | -16.0% |
For the 29 building fires Chester departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 785 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 | 130 | 16.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 116 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 107 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 86 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 38 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 29 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 22 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 16 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 192 | 24.5% |
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 Chester mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 338 | 43.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 106 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 53 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 52 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 32 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 25 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 25 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 19 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 15 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 90 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chester departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $225,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chester sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
43 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 13 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,863 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 865 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 223 | 40.5 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 Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Chester. 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.