In 2025, fire departments serving Villa Rica responded to 310 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $273K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,358 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 213 | — | |
| 2022 | 288 | +35.2% | |
| 2023 | 284 | -1.4% | |
| 2024 | 263 | -7.4% | |
| 2025 | 310 | +17.9% |
For the 28 building fires Villa Rica departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 267 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 | 98 | 36.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 53 | 19.9% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 57 | 21.3% |
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 Villa Rica mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 169 | 63.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 22 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 6.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Villa Rica departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 76% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $273,113 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $141,585 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $65,556 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $53,558 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Villa Rica 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,298 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 907 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 867 | 41.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 740 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 690 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 659 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 645 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 631 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 625 | 30.4 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 Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Villa Rica. 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.