In 2025, fire departments serving Penhook responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K 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 72% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
136 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $358K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | +2.9% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -5.7% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -45.5% |
* Well below Penhook'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 6 building fires Penhook 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 | 14 | 56.0% | |
| 2 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Penhook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 16 | 64.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Candle | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Penhook departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Penhook sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,859 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,676 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,550 | 30.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,354 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,349 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,285 | 37.4 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 | 24137 | 136 |
Six Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Penhook. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Penhook.
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.