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2025 County Report

Fires in Clarke County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Clarke County responded to 140 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

6,176 residents FIPS 51043 19 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
140
468 across 5 years
Building fires
32
18 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$1.0M structure · $418K 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 54% of all calls.

140
Total Incidents
Building fires 32 22.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 15.7%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 8 5.7%
Unauthorized burning 8 5.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 4.3%
All other categories 64 45.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clarke County?

Nov peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 9
Feb 14
Mar 15
Apr 13
May 14
Jun 2
Jul 16
Aug 7
Sep 11
Oct 7
Nov 23
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clarke County

468 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 87
2022 22
2023 101
2024 118
2025 140
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
13
Cause undetermined
4%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
3
Under investigation
30%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $987K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clarke County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 96% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Boyce Building fires Significant
2 $180,000 Berryville Building fires Significant
3 $157,100 Berryville Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Berryville Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $100,000 Berryville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $80,000 Berryville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $50,000 Berryville Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 White Post Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 White Post Building fires Significant
10 $20,000 Boyce Building fires Significant
06 How Clarke County compares

Clarke County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clarke County
22.67
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
5.18
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clarke County
5.18
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clarke County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clarke County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51043.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clarke County

4 departments report from this county.

Clarke Co Emergency Services
Berryville
FDID 04300 156 incidents 6 paid 80 vol
John H Enders Vol Fire Dept
Berryville
FDID 04301 0 incidents 93 vol
Boyce Vol Fire Co
BOYCE
FDID 04304 0 incidents 26 vol
Blue Ridge Vol Fire Rescue
Bluemont
FDID 04308 0 incidents 21 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.