In 2025, fire departments serving Galax responded to 155 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
903 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 177 | — | |
| 2022 | 163 | -7.9% | |
| 2023 | 199 | +22.1% | |
| 2024 | 209 | +5.0% | |
| 2025 | 155 | -25.8% |
For the 10 building fires Galax departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 266 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 66 | 24.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 48 | 18.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 23 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 15 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 21.4% |
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 Galax mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 43 | 16.2% | |
| 2 | Match | 42 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 39 | 14.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 12.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 33 | 12.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Galax departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Galax sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
28 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 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,010 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Smoking | 1,509 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 992 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 737 | 8.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 730 | 8.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 484 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 457 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Other causes | 430 | 39.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 24333 | 903 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Galax. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Galax.
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.