In 2025, fire departments serving Fairfax responded to 413 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $235K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,306 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $7.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 433 | — | |
| 2022 | 360 | -16.9% | |
| 2023 | 526 | +46.1% | |
| 2024 | 574 | +9.1% | |
| 2025 | 413 | -28.0% |
For the 15 building fires Fairfax departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 531 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 | 115 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 98 | 18.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 48 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 35 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 20 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 18 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Other | 17 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 117 | 22.0% |
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 mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 193 | 36.3% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 44 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 42 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 37 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 33 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette | 31 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 82 | 15.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fairfax departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $235,360 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $173,979 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $134,378 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $120,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $96,695 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $84,354 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $65,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fairfax 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,898 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 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 34.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 34.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 18.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 19.7 mi |
Top 10 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. 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.