In 2025, fire departments serving Nellysford responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
68 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 25 | +56.2% | |
| 2024 | 14 | -44.0% | |
| 2025 | 11 | -21.4% |
* Well below Nellysford'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 0 building fires Nellysford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | 4 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Structural area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Nellysford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nellysford departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nellysford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 84,156 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 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,326 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,200 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,717 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,564 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,206 | 20.2 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 Nellysford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nellysford.
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.