In 2025, fire departments serving Sterling responded to 282 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $53K 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,466 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 230 | — | |
| 2022 | 252 | +9.6% | |
| 2023 | 309 | +22.6% | |
| 2024 | 393 | +27.2% | |
| 2025 | 282 | -28.2% |
For the 17 building fires Sterling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 319 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 | 84 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 44 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 27 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 16 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 9 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 24.1% |
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 Sterling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 161 | 50.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 25 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 24 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 10 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sterling departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $53,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $48,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $19,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sterling sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,745 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Other causes | 1,989 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 24.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 300 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 29.0 mi |
Top 7 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 Sterling. 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.