In 2025, fire departments serving Onancock responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 48% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
290 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $567K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 87 | — | |
| 2023 | 68 | -21.8% | |
| 2024 | 41 | -39.7% | |
| 2025 | 60 | +46.3% |
* Well below Onancock'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 12 building fires Onancock departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 47.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.8% |
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 Onancock mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 20 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Match | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Onancock departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Onancock sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,292 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,208 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,910 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,124 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,066 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,800 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,756 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,700 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,596 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,580 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,367 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,348 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,238 | 47.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Onancock. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Onancock.
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.