In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond responded to 16 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $57K 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 81% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
47 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $75K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 15 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 16 | — |
* 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 6 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 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 1 | 16.7% |
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 | 3 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 16.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 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 | $57,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | 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. 4,233 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 321 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 272 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 256 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 120 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 79 | 37.0 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Hampshire 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.