In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $28K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $476K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | -18.8% | |
| 2024 | 28 | +115.4% | |
| 2025 | 27 | -3.6% |
* 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 4 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 30 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 | 6 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Other | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 13.3% |
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 | 9 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Incendiary device | 1 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richmond departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $28,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richmond sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 39,844 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,560 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,300 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 1,188 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,120 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,043 | 31.9 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 | 66080 | 90 |
Six Kansas 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.