In 2025, fire departments serving Hampton responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Hampton's departments reported 49 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 218 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,090 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 245 | — | |
| 2022 | 319 | +30.2% | |
| 2023 | 320 | +0.3% | |
| 2024 | 157 | -50.9% | |
| 2025* | 49 | — |
* Well below Hampton'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 3 building fires Hampton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 232 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 | 48 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 13.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 15 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 58 | 25.0% |
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 Hampton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 101 | 43.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hampton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hampton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,903 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 356 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 348 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 305 | 15.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 305 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 256 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 215 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 201 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 199 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 167 | 31.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 164 | 42.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Hampton. 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.