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2025 County Report

Fires in Chattooga County, GA

In 2025, fire departments serving Chattooga County responded to 227 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,787 residents FIPS 13055 23 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
227
1,810 across 5 years
Building fires
18
23 wildland
Property loss
$378K
$277K structure · $101K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

227
Total Incidents
Power line down 48 21.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 41 18.1%
Unauthorized burning 20 8.8%
Building fires 18 7.9%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 15 6.6%
All other categories 85 37.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chattooga County?

Mar peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 20
Feb 24
Mar 37
Apr 10
May 16
Jun 20
Jul 19
Aug 18
Sep 14
Oct 14
Nov 15
Dec 20
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chattooga County

1,810 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 290
2022 404
2023 516
2024 373
2025 227
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
9
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
24%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
1
Under investigation
18%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

8 fires · $277K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Summerville Building fires Significant
2 $80,000 Summerville Building fires Significant
3 $30,000 Summerville Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Summerville Building fires Significant
5 $3,000 Summerville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $2,000 Summerville Outside rubbish fire, other Significant
7 $1,000 Summerville Building fires Significant
8 $500 Summerville Building fires Significant
06 How Chattooga County compares

Chattooga County vs GA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

29.15
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chattooga County
29.15
GA avg
2.99
US avg
7.15
2.31
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chattooga County
2.31
GA avg
0.27
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chattooga County
0
GA avg
3.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chattooga County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 13055.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Chattooga County

11 departments report from this county.

SUMMERVILLE FIRE DEPARTMENT
—
FDID 02711 228 incidents 3 paid
TRION FIRE DEPARTMENT
Trion
FDID 02702 0 incidents 19 vol
CHATTOOGAVILLE VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 02703 0 incidents
Gore Area VFD
—
FDID 02704 0 incidents 23 vol
CLOUDLAND FIRE DEPARTMENT
Cloudland
FDID 02705 0 incidents 20 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in GA

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
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

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.