In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond responded to 294 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,376 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 370 | — | |
| 2023 | 347 | -6.2% | |
| 2024 | 332 | -4.3% | |
| 2025 | 294 | -11.4% |
* Well below Richmond'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 31 building fires Richmond departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 541 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 | 205 | 37.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 72 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 44 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 118 | 21.8% |
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 Richmond mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 355 | 65.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 27 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 7 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 7 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richmond departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 68% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richmond sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
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 | 47374 | 1,376 |
Six Indiana cities with population within ±25% of Richmond. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Richmond.
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.