In 2025, fire departments serving Lakeside responded to 222 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $131K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
222 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $232K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 222 | — |
* Well below Lakeside'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 7 building fires Lakeside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 10 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Roof surface: exterior | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 17.1% |
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 Lakeside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 25.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lakeside departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $131,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $39,998 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $14,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $7,300 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lakeside sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,285 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 | 4,505 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 33.7 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 | 23228 | 222 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Lakeside. 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.