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2025 County Report

Fires in Fairfax city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Fairfax city responded to 236 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $174K property loss.

24,242 residents FIPS 51600 4 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
236
1,321 across 5 years
Building fires
9
22 wildland
Property loss
$486K
$354K structure · $132K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

236
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 78 33.1%
Power line down 34 14.4%
Special outside fire, other 17 7.2%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 11 4.7%
Building fires 9 3.8%
All other categories 87 36.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Fairfax city?

Jun peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 30
Feb 32
Mar 35
Apr 23
May 29
Jun 36
Jul 24
Aug 25
Sep 2
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Fairfax city

1,321 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 244
2022 221
2023 277
2024 343
2025 236
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
30
Cause undetermined
13%
7
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
4
Under investigation
15%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
3
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $354K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Fairfax city during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $173,979 Fairfax Building fires Significant
2 $96,695 Fairfax Building fires Significant
3 $45,000 City of Fairfax Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 Fairfax Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $14,432 Fairfax Building fires Significant
6 $4,000 Fairfax Fire, other Significant
06 How Fairfax city compares

Fairfax city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.74
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Fairfax city
9.74
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.37
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Fairfax city
0.37
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Fairfax city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Fairfax city

4 cities mapped to FIPS 51600.

CityPopulation 
Fairfax 24,242 View ›
Mosby Woods 0 View ›
Lord Fairfax Estates 0 View ›
Maple Hills 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Fairfax city

1 departments report from this county.

Fairfax City Fire Dept
—
FDID 60000 0 incidents 50 paid 30 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in VA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
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

About this data

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.