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2025 County Report

Fires in Craig County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Craig County responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss.

224 residents FIPS 51045 16 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
29
154 across 5 years
Building fires
3
4 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$958K structure · $226K 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 76% of all calls.

29
Total Incidents
Power line down 7 24.1%
Authorized controlled burning 7 24.1%
Building fires 3 10.3%
Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue 3 10.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 6.9%
All other categories 7 24.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Craig County?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 4
Feb 5
Mar 2
Apr 4
May 4
Jun 1
Jul 4
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Craig County

154 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 31
2022 29
2023 35
2024 30
2025 29
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
33%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
17%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
33%
2
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $958K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Craig County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 New Castle Building fires Major
2 $283,000 New Castle Fires in structures other than in a building Major
3 $250,000 New Castle Building fires Major
4 $90,000 NEW CASTLE Building fires Significant
5 $35,000 New Castle Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Craig County compares

Craig County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

129.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Craig County
129.46
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
13.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Craig County
13.39
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Craig County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Craig County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51045.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Craig County

5 departments report from this county.

Simmonsville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 04503 16 incidents 23 vol
New Castle Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 04504 5 incidents 23 vol
Upper Craigs Creek VFD
—
FDID 04505 1 incidents 35 vol
Johns Creek Vol Fire Dept
New Castle
FDID 04501 0 incidents 10 vol
Paint Bank Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 04502 0 incidents 19 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.