In 2025, fire departments serving Highland Springs responded to 83 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 57% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
266 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 39 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | +48.7% | |
| 2023* | 24 | — | |
| 2024 | 62 | — | |
| 2025 | 83 | +33.9% |
* Well below Highland Springs'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 Highland Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 75 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 | 13 | 17.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 8 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 21.3% |
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 Highland Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 21.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Highland Springs departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,700 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Highland Springs sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,948 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 198 | 40.1 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 | 23075 | 266 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Highland Springs. 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.