In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond responded to 553 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $425K 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 43% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,784 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 412 | — | |
| 2022 | 685 | +66.3% | |
| 2023 | 652 | -4.8% | |
| 2024 | 482 | -26.1% | |
| 2025 | 553 | +14.7% |
For the 66 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 1,183 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 | 378 | 32.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 232 | 19.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 96 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 87 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 66 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 40 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 37 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 34 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 14 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 13 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 186 | 15.7% |
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 | 880 | 74.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 44 | 3.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 36 | 3.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 34 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 26 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 12 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 76 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Richmond departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $425,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $160,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Richmond sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 33,749 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 3,500 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,406 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,000 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,537 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,100 | 16.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,000 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,910 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,640 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,291 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,000 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 990 | 44.8 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Kentucky cities with population within ±25% of Richmond. 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.