In 2025, fire departments serving Glasgow responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
105 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $568K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | -48.0% | |
| 2024 | 35 | +169.2% | |
| 2025 | 25 | -28.6% |
* Well below Glasgow'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 Glasgow departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 23.1% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 Glasgow mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 42.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Glasgow departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $14,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Glasgow sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 86,577 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 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 3.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 4.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,057 | 23.1 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 | 24555 | 105 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Glasgow. 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.