In 2025, fire departments serving Fairfax Station responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $560K 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 74% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
311 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 54 | — | |
| 2022* | 33 | — | |
| 2023 | 72 | — | |
| 2024 | 76 | +5.6% | |
| 2025 | 76 | +0.0% |
* Well below Fairfax Station'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 6 building fires Fairfax Station departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | Outside area, other | 17 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 11.2% |
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 Fairfax Station mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 8 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Match | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairfax Station departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $559,905 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $117,828 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $11,370 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairfax Station sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,565 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Other causes | 1,989 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 20.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 14.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 25.5 mi |
Top 4 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 Fairfax Station. 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.