In 2025, fire departments serving Midlothian responded to 464 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3.5M 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.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,321 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 419 | — | |
| 2022 | 449 | +7.2% | |
| 2023 | 524 | +16.7% | |
| 2024 | 465 | -11.3% | |
| 2025 | 464 | -0.2% |
For the 30 building fires Midlothian departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 811 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 | 133 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 116 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 91 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 86 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 52 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 37 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 23 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 20 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Other | 16 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 188 | 23.2% |
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 Midlothian mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 306 | 37.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 112 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 60 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 48 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 38 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 34 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 31 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 105 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Midlothian departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,529,222 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $346,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $236,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $190,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Midlothian sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
39 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,228 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 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,250 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 907 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 865 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 821 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 545 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 414 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 302 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 273 | 14.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 46.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Midlothian. 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.