In 2025, fire departments serving Warrenton responded to 362 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K 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 80% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,064 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 123 | — | |
| 2022 | 181 | — | |
| 2023 | 201 | +11.0% | |
| 2024 | 197 | -2.0% | |
| 2025 | 362 | +83.8% |
* Well below Warrenton'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 12 building fires Warrenton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 231 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 | 43 | 18.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 30 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 21 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 7.4% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 17 | 7.4% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 37 | 16.0% |
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 Warrenton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 79 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 38 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 14.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Warrenton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Warrenton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50,537 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,021 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,131 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,200 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,717 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 2,138 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Other causes | 1,989 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,935 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,579 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,200 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,113 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,070 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 1,000 | 43.9 mi |
Top 10 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 Warrenton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Warrenton.
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.