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2025 County Report

Fires in Alleghany County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Alleghany County responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $25K property loss.

5,899 residents FIPS 51005 33 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
64
579 across 5 years
Building fires
8
7 wildland
Property loss
$39K
$38K structure · $1K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

64
Total Incidents
Building fires 8 12.5%
Fires in structures other than in a building 8 12.5%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 8 12.5%
Power line down 8 12.5%
Aircraft standby 8 12.5%
All other categories 24 37.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Alleghany County?

Jan peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 14
Feb 5
Mar 12
Apr 1
May 9
Jun 4
Jul 2
Aug 2
Sep 3
Oct 6
Nov 4
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Alleghany County

579 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 127
2022 167
2023 130
2024 91
2025 64
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
17%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
17%
1
05 The biggest fires

3 fires · $38K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Alleghany County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $25,000 Clifton Forge Building fires Significant
2 $8,000 Clifton Forge Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $5,000 Clifton Forge Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Alleghany County compares

Alleghany County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Alleghany County
10.85
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Alleghany County
1.36
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Alleghany County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Alleghany County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51005.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Alleghany County

6 departments report from this county.

Sharon Vol Fire Dept
Clifton Forge
FDID 00506 34 incidents 45 vol
Iron Gate Vol Fire Dept
Iron Gate
FDID 00504 3 incidents 20 vol
Boiling Springs VFD
Covington
FDID 00501 0 incidents 42 vol
Dunlap Fire Rescue
Covington
FDID 00502 0 incidents 44 vol
Falling Spring Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 00503 0 incidents 27 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.