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2025 County Report

Fires in Botetourt County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Botetourt County responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $20K property loss.

13,917 residents FIPS 51023 38 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
57
602 across 5 years
Building fires
6
30 wildland
Property loss
$60K
$30K structure · $30K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.

57
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 22 38.6%
Power line down 12 21.1%
Building fires 6 10.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 5 8.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 4 7.0%
All other categories 8 14.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Botetourt County?

Jan peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 26
Feb 4
Mar 5
Apr 1
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 0
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 4
Nov 10
Dec 4
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Botetourt County

602 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 123
2022 160
2023 107
2024 155
2025 57
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
3
Cause undetermined
20%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
20%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $30K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Botetourt County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $20,000 Blue Ridge Building fires Significant
2 $10,000 Buchanan Building fires Significant
06 How Botetourt County compares

Botetourt County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.1
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Botetourt County
4.1
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Botetourt County
0.43
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Botetourt County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Botetourt County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51023.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Botetourt County

5 departments report from this county.

Blue Ridge Vol Fire Rescue
Blue Ridge
FDID 02301 0 incidents 38 vol
Buchanan Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 02303 0 incidents 40 vol
Fincastle Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 02304 0 incidents 29 vol
Eagle Rock Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 02305 0 incidents 40 vol
Glen Wilton Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 02306 0 incidents 4 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.