In 2025, fire departments serving Salem responded to 338 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,243 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 181 | — | |
| 2022 | 282 | +55.8% | |
| 2023 | 172 | -39.0% | |
| 2024 | 270 | +57.0% | |
| 2025 | 338 | +25.2% |
For the 20 building fires Salem departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 195 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 34 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 26 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 20 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 19 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 27.7% |
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 Salem mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 61 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 7.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Salem departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $106,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $18,400 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Salem sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 70,931 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 11,381 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Fireworks | 7,351 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,990 | 6.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,738 | 10.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 2,151 | 9.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,678 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,676 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,550 | 18.0 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 Salem. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Salem.
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.