In 2025, fire departments serving King George responded to 240 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 46% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,272 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 241 | — | |
| 2022 | 285 | +18.3% | |
| 2023 | 238 | -16.5% | |
| 2024 | 268 | +12.6% | |
| 2025 | 240 | -10.4% |
For the 32 building fires King George departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 217 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 | 49 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 22 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 27.6% |
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 King George mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by King George departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $382,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $382,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Aircraft fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. King George sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,167 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 24.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 27.5 mi |
Top 2 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 King George. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in King George.
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.