In 2025, fire departments serving Fredericksburg responded to 481 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $332K 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 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,294 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $7.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 450 | — | |
| 2022 | 454 | +0.9% | |
| 2023 | 451 | -0.7% | |
| 2024 | 458 | +1.6% | |
| 2025 | 481 | +5.0% |
For the 46 building fires Fredericksburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 464 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 | 121 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 69 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 34 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 25 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 20 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 110 | 23.7% |
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 Fredericksburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 185 | 39.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 65 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 43 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 23 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 66 | 14.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fredericksburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $332,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $189,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $138,150 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $74,164 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fredericksburg 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,269 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,021 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,131 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 29.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 20.1 mi |
Top 9 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 Fredericksburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fredericksburg.
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.