Home› Counties› VA› Bristol city
2025 County Report

Fires in Bristol city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Bristol city responded to 231 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

17,036 residents FIPS 51520 3 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
231
1,201 across 5 years
Building fires
33
28 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$1.0M structure · $263K 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 47% of all calls.

231
Total Incidents
Building fires 33 14.3%
Unauthorized burning 29 12.6%
Outside rubbish fire, other 19 8.2%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 16 6.9%
Fire, other 12 5.2%
All other categories 122 52.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bristol city?

Apr peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 28
Feb 16
Mar 26
Apr 34
May 7
Jun 2
Jul 21
Aug 26
Sep 18
Oct 21
Nov 19
Dec 13
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bristol city

1,201 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 182
2022 274
2023 238
2024 276
2025 231
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 33 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
31
Cause undetermined
18%
13
Intentional / arson
22%
16
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
4
Under investigation
14%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $860K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bristol city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Bristol Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $150,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Bristol Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
8 $35,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 BRISTOL Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $25,000 BRISTOL Building fires Significant
06 How Bristol city compares

Bristol city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.56
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bristol city
13.56
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.94
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bristol city
1.94
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bristol city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bristol city

3 cities mapped to FIPS 51520.

CityPopulation 
Bristol 17,036 View ›
Barytes 0 View ›
Shakesville 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bristol city

1 departments report from this county.

Bristol Virginia Fire Dept
BRISTOL
FDID 52000 150 incidents 48 paid
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.