In 2025, fire departments serving Williamsburg responded to 488 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,676 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $11.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 425 | — | |
| 2022 | 624 | +46.8% | |
| 2023 | 575 | -7.9% | |
| 2024 | 564 | -1.9% | |
| 2025 | 488 | -13.5% |
For the 49 building fires Williamsburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 655 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 | 103 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 70 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 64 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 63 | 9.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 59 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 57 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 162 | 24.7% |
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 Williamsburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 263 | 40.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 49 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 44 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 44 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 40 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 30 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 25 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 23 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 12 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 89 | 13.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Williamsburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $76,820 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Williamsburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,231 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 6,574 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,850 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 535 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 372 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 310 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 255 | 35.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 221 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 213 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 208 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 198 | 32.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Williamsburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Williamsburg.
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.