In 2025, fire departments serving Rose Hill responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 95% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $378K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 16 | +0.0% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | +75.0% |
* Well below Rose Hill'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 6 building fires Rose Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 12 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Rose Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 75.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rose Hill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rose Hill sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,943 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 8.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 408 | 40.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 21.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 34.0 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 Virginia cities with population within ±25% of Rose Hill. 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.