In 2025, fire departments serving Waynesboro responded to 274 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,650 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 239 | — | |
| 2022 | 428 | +79.1% | |
| 2023 | 359 | -16.1% | |
| 2024 | 350 | -2.5% | |
| 2025 | 274 | -21.7% |
For the 10 building fires Waynesboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 260 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 | 47 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 28 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 58 | 22.3% |
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 Waynesboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 135 | 51.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 11 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waynesboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 74% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $12,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,500 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waynesboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 104,666 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 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 15,454 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 11,229 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,326 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,131 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,505 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,200 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,717 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 3,200 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,058 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,935 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,871 | 40.2 mi |
Top 9 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 Waynesboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Waynesboro.
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.