In 2025, fire departments serving Chesapeake city responded to 228 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $270K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips.
3,910 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 517 | |
| 2022 | 1,158 | |
| 2023 | 903 | |
| 2024 | 1,104 | |
| 2025 | 228 |
For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Chesapeake city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $270,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Outside equipment fire | Major |
| 3 | $30,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 4 | $25,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 5 | $20,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 6 | $15,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant |
| 7 | $15,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant |
| 8 | $14,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant |
| 9 | $10,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 10 | $10,000 | CHESAPEAKE | Building fires | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 51550.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Chesapeake | 249,377 | View › |
| Raleigh Place | 0 | View › |
| Essex Meadows | 0 | View › |
| Loxley Gardens | 0 | View › |
| Silverwood | 0 | View › |
| Cedar Grove Acres | 0 | View › |
| Willow Lakes | 0 | View › |
| Westover | 0 | View › |
| Green Acres | 0 | View › |
| Jester Gardens | 0 | View › |
| Hickory | 0 | View › |
| Millville | 0 | View › |
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | PINNACLES | 2000 | NPS | 18,055 |
| 2 | Mount Pleasant | 2016 | USFS | 11,210 |
| 3 | Waterfall Mountain | 2024 | USFS | 6,398 |
| 4 | Waites Run | 2024 | USFS | 6,223 |
| 5 | OLD RAG | 2000 | NPS | 6,127 |
| 6 | BIG RUN | 1986 | NPS | 4,696 |
| 7 | FULTZ RUN | 2002 | NPS | 4,194 |
| 8 | Shop Run | 1999 | NPS | 3,229 |
| 9 | Raven Rock | 2016 | USFS | 2,401 |
| 10 | Tye River | 2018 | USFS | 2,057 |
County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.