In 2025, fire departments serving Colonial Heights responded to 153 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
915 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 181 | — | |
| 2022 | 202 | +11.6% | |
| 2023 | 230 | +13.9% | |
| 2024 | 149 | -35.2% | |
| 2025 | 153 | +2.7% |
For the 18 building fires Colonial Heights departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 210 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 | 37 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 24 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 10 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 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 Colonial Heights mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Cigarette | 30 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 24 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Colonial Heights departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $16,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Colonial Heights sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,613 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 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 865 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 223 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 198 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 176 | 14.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 23834 | 915 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Colonial Heights. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Colonial Heights.
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.