In 2025, fire departments serving Ridgeway responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
443 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 63 | — | |
| 2022 | 97 | +54.0% | |
| 2023 | 99 | +2.1% | |
| 2024 | 88 | -11.1% | |
| 2025 | 96 | +9.1% |
For the 15 building fires Ridgeway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 167 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 | 87 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Other | 10 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 12.0% |
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 Ridgeway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 118 | 70.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Conducted heat from another fire | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ridgeway departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ridgeway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,308 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,146 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,036 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 850 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 38.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 400 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 380 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 363 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 350 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 300 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 230 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 175 | 26.0 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 Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Ridgeway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ridgeway.
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.