In 2025, fire departments serving Norton responded to 70 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
283 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.3M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | +9.4% | |
| 2023 | 57 | -1.7% | |
| 2024 | 45 | -21.1% | |
| 2025 | 70 | +55.6% |
For the 10 building fires Norton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 140 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 | 30 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 23 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 10 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 29 | 20.7% |
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 Norton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 6 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 82,338 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,000 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,400 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,070 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,860 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,539 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,500 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,300 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,100 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,040 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,850 | 42.8 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 | 24273 | 283 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Norton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norton.
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.