In 2025, fire departments serving Burke County responded to 239 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $4K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips.
1,319 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 100 | |
| 2022 | 333 | |
| 2023 | 332 | |
| 2024 | 315 | |
| 2025 | 239 |
For the 9 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Burke County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,000 | Sardis | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 2 | $100 | Waynesboro | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 3 | $1 | Sardis | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 4 | $1 | Sardis | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant |
| 5 | $1 | Waynesboro | Outside storage fire | Significant |
| 6 | $1 | Keysville | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant |
| 7 | $1 | Waynesboro | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $1 | Waynesboro | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
| 9 | $1 | Waynesboro | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $1 | Waynesboro | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 13033.
2 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | West Mims | 2017 | FWS | 152,527 |
| 2 | GAOKR-FY19-RX-Blackjack Island | 2019 | FWS | 3,367 |
| 3 | South Cut | 2008 | NPS | 2,581 |
| 4 | St. Catherines Island | 2022 | USFS | 2,213 |
| 5 | GAOKR-FY19-RX-Strange Island | 2019 | FWS | 1,999 |
| 6 | GAPDR-FY19-RX-6C/7S/8A/8B | 2019 | FWS | 1,172 |
| 7 | Barrow's Fire | 2016 | PRI | 1,034 |
| 8 | GAOKR-FY19-RX-Mitchell Island | 2019 | FWS | 1,027 |
| 9 | The Nicki Fire | 2014 | FWS | 1,022 |
| 10 | GAPDR-FY19-RX-27A/Stephens | 2019 | FWS | 972 |
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.