Home› Counties› VA› Chesterfield County
2025 County Report

Fires in Chesterfield County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Chesterfield County responded to 1,641 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $3.5M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

147,454 residents FIPS 51041 44 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
1,641
8,803 across 5 years
Building fires
128
142 wildland
Property loss
$19.4M
$12.7M structure · $6.8M contents
Casualties
0 / 17
0 civ deaths · 9 civ inj · 8 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

1,641
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 213 13.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 198 12.1%
Hazardous condition, other 171 10.4%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 169 10.3%
Building fires 128 7.8%
All other categories 762 46.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chesterfield County?

Feb peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 37
Feb 194
Mar 181
Apr 155
May 139
Jun 146
Jul 173
Aug 137
Sep 128
Oct 155
Nov 194
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chesterfield County

8,803 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,676
2022 1,728
2023 1,933
2024 1,825
2025 1,641
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 128 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
281
Cause undetermined
10%
49
Intentional / arson
8%
41
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
61
Under investigation
3%
17
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
18
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $7.8M in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $3,529,222 Midlothian Building fires Major
2 $1,200,000 Midlothian Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $1,000,000 Chester Building fires Major
4 $500,000 Chester Building fires Major
5 $346,000 Midlothian Building fires Major
6 $284,500 Chesterfield Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Chester Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
8 $250,000 Chester Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
9 $236,300 Midlothian Building fires Significant
10 $225,000 Chester Building fires Significant
06 How Chesterfield County compares

Chesterfield County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chesterfield County
11.13
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.87
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chesterfield County
0.87
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chesterfield County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chesterfield County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51041.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Chesterfield County

1 departments report from this county.

Chesterfield Fire EMS
CHESTERFIELD
FDID 04100 2,189 incidents 507 paid 280 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.