In 2025, fire departments serving Lexington responded to 61 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 56% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
440 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 103 | — | |
| 2022 | 147 | +42.7% | |
| 2023 | 78 | -46.9% | |
| 2024* | 51 | — | |
| 2025 | 61 | — |
* Well below Lexington'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 15 building fires Lexington departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 118 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 | 26 | 22.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Roof surface: exterior | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 18.6% |
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 Lexington mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 9.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lexington departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lexington sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 87,998 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 11.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 44.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,206 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 48.0 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 Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Lexington. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lexington.
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.