In 2025, fire departments serving Forest responded to 193 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
804 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 117 | — | |
| 2022 | 159 | +35.9% | |
| 2023 | 228 | +43.4% | |
| 2024 | 107 | -53.1% | |
| 2025 | 193 | +80.4% |
For the 13 building fires Forest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 94 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 | 18 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 7 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 5 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 36.2% |
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 Forest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 30.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Forest departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Forest sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 74,971 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,057 | 36.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 45.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Forest. 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.