ZIP 23701 recorded 146 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 687 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Portsmouth city, VA.
687 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 174 | |
| 2022 | 122 | |
| 2023 | 109 | |
| 2024 | 136 | |
| 2025 | 146 |
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 23701 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 65 | 9.5% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 64 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Unauthorized burning | 61 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 59 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Passenger vehicle fire | 51 | 7.4% |
For the 11 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 23701 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 56 | 22.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 39 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 31 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 75 | 29.9% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 118 | 47.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 22 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 32 | 12.7% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 23701 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 133% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 2 | $181,300 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 5 | $139,210 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 6 | $134,930 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 23701.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portsmouth | 687 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 687 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.