In 2025, fire departments serving Portsmouth responded to 658 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K 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 47% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,101 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $20.2M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 747 | — | |
| 2022 | 564 | -24.5% | |
| 2023 | 494 | -12.4% | |
| 2024 | 638 | +29.1% | |
| 2025 | 658 | +3.1% |
For the 86 building fires Portsmouth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,189 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 | Outside area, other | 301 | 25.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 168 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 111 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 74 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 35 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 34 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 31 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 30 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 23 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 351 | 29.5% |
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 Portsmouth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 515 | 43.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 140 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 103 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 62 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 51 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 47 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 36 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 36 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 28 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 27 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 144 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Portsmouth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $764,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $476,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $476,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $476,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $151,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Portsmouth sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
33 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,584 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 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,884 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 22.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 681 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 430 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 310 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 258 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 243 | 39.1 mi |
Top 8 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 Portsmouth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Portsmouth.
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.