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2025 County Report

Fires in Buena Vista city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Buena Vista city responded to 83 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

6,639 residents FIPS 51530 1 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
83
155 across 5 years
Building fires
11
9 wildland
Property loss
$211K
$180K structure · $31K 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 46% of all calls.

83
Total Incidents
Building fires 11 13.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 12.0%
Power line down 7 8.4%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 5 6.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 5 6.0%
All other categories 45 54.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Buena Vista city?

Jan peaks. May dips.

Jan 13
Feb 6
Mar 8
Apr 7
May 0
Jun 3
Jul 7
Aug 11
Sep 7
Oct 7
Nov 7
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Buena Vista city

155 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 3
2022 7
2023 11
2024 51
2025 83
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
10
Cause undetermined
28%
5
Intentional / arson
6%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
11%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $180K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Buena Vista city during 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 BUENA VISTA Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 BUENA VISTA Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $12,000 Buena Vista Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Buena Vista Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 Buena Vista Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,500 BUENA VISTA Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
7 $500 Buena Vista Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
8 $500 BUENA VISTA Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Buena Vista city compares

Buena Vista city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.5
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Buena Vista city
12.5
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Buena Vista city
1.66
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Buena Vista city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Buena Vista city

1 cities mapped to FIPS 51530.

CityPopulation 
Buena Vista 6,639 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Buena Vista city

1 departments report from this county.

Buena Vista Fire Dept
Buena Vista
FDID 53000 88 incidents 50 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.