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2025 County Report

Fires in Norfolk city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Norfolk city responded to 1,936 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $610K property loss.

236,973 residents FIPS 51710 28 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
1,936
8,258 across 5 years
Building fires
140
167 wildland
Property loss
$6.0M
$5.0M structure · $925K contents
Casualties
0 / 14
0 civ deaths · 10 civ inj · 4 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 53% of all calls.

1,936
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 341 17.6%
Power line down 241 12.4%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 167 8.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 148 7.6%
Building fires 140 7.2%
All other categories 899 46.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Norfolk city?

Mar peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 168
Feb 120
Mar 183
Apr 166
May 172
Jun 165
Jul 148
Aug 162
Sep 171
Oct 162
Nov 174
Dec 145
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Norfolk city

8,258 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,079
2022 1,526
2023 1,822
2024 1,895
2025 1,936
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 140 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
280
Cause undetermined
21%
126
Intentional / arson
4%
25
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
84
Under investigation
11%
70
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Norfolk city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 42% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $610,000 Norfolk Building fires Major
2 $315,000 Norfolk Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Norfolk Building fires Major
4 $200,000 Norfolk Building fires Significant
5 $167,493 Norfolk Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 Norfolk Building fires Significant
7 $119,000 Norfolk Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Norfolk Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Norfolk Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $100,000 Norfolk Building fires Significant
06 How Norfolk city compares

Norfolk city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.17
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Norfolk city
8.17
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Norfolk city
0.59
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Norfolk city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Norfolk city

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51710.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Norfolk city

2 departments report from this county.

Norfolk FireRescue
Norfolk
FDID 71000 1,921 incidents
Norfolk International Airport
Norfolk
FDID 92004 30 incidents
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.