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2025 County Report

Fires in Augusta County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Augusta County responded to 169 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $817K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

39,496 residents FIPS 51015 79 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
169
2,575 across 5 years
Building fires
66
3 wildland
Property loss
$3.7M
$2.4M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

169
Total Incidents
Building fires 66 39.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 17 10.1%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 10 5.9%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 8 4.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 8 4.7%
All other categories 60 35.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Augusta County?

Jan peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 92
Feb 12
Mar 13
Apr 8
May 7
Jun 6
Jul 9
Aug 5
Sep 10
Oct 4
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Augusta County

2,575 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 549
2022 566
2023 701
2024 590
2025 169
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 66 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
11
Cause undetermined
27%
6
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
1
Under investigation
18%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Augusta County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $817,000 Swoope Building fires Major
2 $817,000 Swoope Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Swoope Building fires Major
4 $223,000 Weyers Cave Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Mount Solon Building fires Significant
6 $30,000 Greenville Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
7 $25,000 Waynesboro Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
8 $25,000 AUGUSTA COUNTY Building fires Significant
9 $20,000 Mount Solon Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 Verona Building fires Significant
06 How Augusta County compares

Augusta County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.28
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Augusta County
4.28
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.67
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Augusta County
1.67
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Augusta County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Augusta County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51015.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Augusta County

16 departments report from this county.

Augusta Co Fire Dept Co10
STAUNTON
FDID 01510 20 incidents 12 paid 25 vol
Middlebrook Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 01503 8 incidents 22 vol
Churchville Vol Fire Dept
Churchville
FDID 01504 8 incidents 48 vol
Swoope Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 01514 7 incidents 13 vol
New Hope Vol Fire Dept
NEW HOPE
FDID 01518 7 incidents 3 paid 43 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.