In 2025, fire departments serving Patrick Springs responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
150 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $527K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 55 | +150.0% | |
| 2025 | 50 | -9.1% |
* Well below Patrick Springs'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 10 building fires Patrick Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 5 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.0% |
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 Patrick Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 32.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Patrick Springs departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Overheated motor | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Patrick Springs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,849 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 6.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,349 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,146 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,036 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 850 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 737 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 730 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 484 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 457 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 400 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 380 | 43.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Patrick Springs. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Patrick Springs.
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.