ZIP 23703 recorded 131 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 584 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Portsmouth city, VA.
584 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 116 | |
| 2022 | 114 | |
| 2023 | 90 | |
| 2024 | 133 | |
| 2025 | 131 |
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 23703 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 67 | 11.5% | |
| 2 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 63 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 52 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Unauthorized burning | 39 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 38 | 6.5% |
For the 18 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 23703 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 49 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 32 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 13 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 56 | 29.2% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 80 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 28 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 31 | 16.1% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 23703 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 135% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 3 | $190,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 5 | $115,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 6 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | 2021 | Significant |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | Water vehicle fire | 2022 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 23703.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Portsmouth | 581 | |
| 2 | Chesapeake | 1 | |
| 3 | Suffolk | 1 |
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 — 584 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.