Home› Counties› VA› Bland County
2025 County Report

Fires in Bland County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Bland County responded to 62 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

819 residents FIPS 51021 21 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
62
334 across 5 years
Building fires
4
17 wildland
Property loss
$679K
$665K structure · $14K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.

62
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 19 30.6%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 9 14.5%
Building fires 4 6.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 4 6.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 6.5%
All other categories 22 35.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bland County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 4
Feb 7
Mar 13
Apr 5
May 2
Jun 2
Jul 3
Aug 9
Sep 8
Oct 3
Nov 1
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bland County

334 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 65
2022 88
2023 57
2024 62
2025 62
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
3
Cause undetermined
11%
1
Intentional / arson
11%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
33%
3
Under investigation
11%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $665K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bland County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Rocky Gap Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $130,000 Bland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $30,000 Rocky Gap Building fires Significant
4 $3,514 Bland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $1,000 rocky gap Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
6 $800 Rocky Gap Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Bland County compares

Bland County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

75.7
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bland County
75.7
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
4.88
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bland County
4.88
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bland County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bland County

6 departments report from this county.

Bland Co Vol Fire Dept
BLAND
FDID 02101 42 incidents 24 vol
Rocky Gap Vol Fire Dept
Rocky Gap
FDID 02103 15 incidents 16 vol
Grapefield Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 02104 3 incidents 16 vol
HollybrookMechanicsburg VFD
Bland
FDID 02105 3 incidents 22 vol
Ceres Vol Fire Dept
Ceres
FDID 02102 1 incidents 20 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.