In 2025, fire departments serving Dillwyn responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Accident, potential accident, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
140 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $634K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 55 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | -52.7% | |
| 2023 | 25 | -3.8% | |
| 2024* | 7 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Dillwyn'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 4 building fires Dillwyn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 38 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 | 12 | 31.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Maintenance shop or area, paint shop or area | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 10.5% |
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 Dillwyn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 71.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dillwyn departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dillwyn sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,963 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,206 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,057 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,614 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,431 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 865 | 40.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Dillwyn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dillwyn.
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.