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2025 County Report

Fires in Caroline County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Caroline County responded to 439 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $332K property loss.

7,508 residents FIPS 51033 69 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
439
1,449 across 5 years
Building fires
35
61 wildland
Property loss
$3.5M
$2.6M structure · $861K contents
Casualties
1 / 2
1 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.

439
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 80 18.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 44 10.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 42 9.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 42 9.6%
Building fires 35 8.0%
All other categories 196 44.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Caroline County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 31
Feb 31
Mar 64
Apr 48
May 35
Jun 33
Jul 44
Aug 25
Sep 32
Oct 26
Nov 33
Dec 37
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Caroline County

1,449 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 249
2022 168
2023 398
2024 195
2025 439
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 35 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
42
Cause undetermined
12%
11
Intentional / arson
1%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
30%
28
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Caroline County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $332,000 Fredericksburg Building fires Major
2 $299,900 Ruther Glen Building fires Major
3 $189,200 Fredericksburg Building fires Significant
4 $185,000 Ruther Glen Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $138,150 Fredericksburg Building fires Significant
6 $108,000 Bowling Green Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Ruther Glen Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $100,000 Ruther Glen Building fires Significant
9 $90,000 Ruther Glen Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $80,000 Ruther Glen Building fires Significant
06 How Caroline County compares

Caroline County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

58.47
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Caroline County
58.47
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
4.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Caroline County
4.66
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
133.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Caroline County
133.2
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Caroline County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51033.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Caroline County

6 departments report from this county.

Bowling Green Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 03301 0 incidents 25 vol
Ladysmith Vol Fire Dept
Ruther Glen
FDID 03302 0 incidents 45 vol
Port Royal Vol Fire Dept
Port Royal
FDID 03303 0 incidents 26 vol
Sparta Vol Fire Dept
Milford
FDID 03304 0 incidents 29 vol
Frog Level Vol Fire Dept
Hanover
FDID 03305 0 incidents 52 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.