In 2025, fire departments serving Courtland responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 80% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $45K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | +8.3% | |
| 2024 | 16 | +23.1% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +25.0% |
* Well below Courtland'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 2 building fires Courtland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 12 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 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 8.3% |
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 Courtland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 1 | 8.3% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 8.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Courtland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,718 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 6,574 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,884 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,521 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 430 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 223 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 218 | 26.9 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 | 23837 | 67 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Courtland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Courtland.
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.