In 2025, fire departments serving Raven responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $362K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 18 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | +44.4% | |
| 2025 | 17 | -34.6% |
* Well below Raven'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 0 building fires Raven departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Raven mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 17.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Raven departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Raven sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 66,634 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,832 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,850 | 15.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Fireworks | 4,552 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,475 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Fireworks | 3,186 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,100 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,859 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 2,575 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,533 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 41.3 mi |
Top 4 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 Raven. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.