In 2025, fire departments serving Gordonsville responded to 88 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
343 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 41 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | — | |
| 2023 | 71 | +12.7% | |
| 2024 | 80 | +12.7% | |
| 2025 | 88 | +10.0% |
* Well below Gordonsville'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 10 building fires Gordonsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 18 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 19.6% |
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 Gordonsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 49.0% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 2.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gordonsville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $6,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gordonsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 69,417 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 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,326 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,131 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,200 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,717 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,206 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 2,138 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Other causes | 1,989 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,935 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,614 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,579 | 26.7 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 | 22942 | 343 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Gordonsville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gordonsville.
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.