In 2025, fire departments serving Woodbridge responded to 1,179 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
5,141 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 784 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,010 | +28.8% | |
| 2023 | 1,036 | +2.6% | |
| 2024 | 1,132 | +9.3% | |
| 2025 | 1,179 | +4.2% |
For the 69 building fires Woodbridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 996 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 | 179 | 18.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 157 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 121 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 101 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 41 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 34 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 34 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 26 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 25 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 247 | 24.8% |
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 Woodbridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 537 | 53.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 86 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 76 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 71 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 48 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 35 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 21 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 62 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Woodbridge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 60% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $225,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $215,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $127,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Woodbridge sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,689 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 640 | 9.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 500 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 461 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 431 | 16.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 405 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 400 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 350 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 344 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 318 | 9.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 9.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 157 | 44.9 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 Woodbridge. 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.