In 2025, fire departments serving Chilhowie responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
255 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | — | |
| 2023 | 65 | -1.5% | |
| 2024 | 62 | -4.6% | |
| 2025 | 39 | -37.1% |
* Well below Chilhowie'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 3 building fires Chilhowie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 92 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 18 | 19.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 14 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 15.2% |
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 Chilhowie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 33.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chilhowie departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chilhowie sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,747 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,727 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,538 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Smoking | 1,509 | 28.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,485 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,450 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1,151 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 1,098 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,094 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,000 | 36.0 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 Chilhowie. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chilhowie.
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.