In 2025, fire departments serving Norfolk responded to 1,893 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $610K 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 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
8,126 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $16.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,075 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,523 | +41.7% | |
| 2023 | 1,797 | +18.0% | |
| 2024 | 1,838 | +2.3% | |
| 2025 | 1,893 | +3.0% |
For the 136 building fires Norfolk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,684 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 367 | 21.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 263 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 234 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 101 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 99 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior, exposed surface | 53 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 47 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 42 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 37 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 36 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 405 | 24.0% |
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 Norfolk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 667 | 39.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 313 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 138 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 108 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 89 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 82 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 56 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 39 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 30 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 28 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 134 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norfolk departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 39% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $610,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $315,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $167,493 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $119,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norfolk sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
59 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 10 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,536 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 6,574 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,884 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 681 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 430 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 310 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 258 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 243 | 39.2 mi |
Top 10 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 Norfolk. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norfolk.
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.