In 2025, fire departments serving Hampton responded to 1,065 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,206 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $22.0M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 890 | — | |
| 2022 | 911 | +2.4% | |
| 2023 | 1,079 | +18.4% | |
| 2024 | 1,261 | +16.9% | |
| 2025 | 1,065 | -15.5% |
For the 76 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 953 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 | 204 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 120 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 103 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 48 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 42 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 30 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 29 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 26 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 301 | 31.6% |
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 Hampton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 297 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 146 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 99 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 75 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 67 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 52 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 40 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 28 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 15 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 109 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hampton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 68% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $145,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $125,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $124,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hampton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
32 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 7 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,995 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 6,574 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,884 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 430 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 32.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 310 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 258 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 221 | 15.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 213 | 14.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Hampton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hampton.
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.