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2025 County Report

Fires in Culpeper County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Culpeper County responded to 208 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $326K property loss.

20,285 residents FIPS 51047 28 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
208
1,209 across 5 years
Building fires
32
35 wildland
Property loss
$1.7M
$1.2M structure · $423K 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 49% of all calls.

208
Total Incidents
Building fires 32 15.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 22 10.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 18 8.7%
Chemical hazard (no spill or leak) 15 7.2%
Power line down 14 6.7%
All other categories 107 51.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Culpeper County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 33
Feb 26
Mar 49
Apr 21
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 11
Aug 21
Sep 20
Oct 5
Nov 15
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Culpeper County

1,209 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 200
2022 224
2023 289
2024 288
2025 208
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
61%
34
Cause undetermined
4%
2
Intentional / arson
21%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
4%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Culpeper County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $326,400 Culpeper Building fires Major
2 $165,000 Culpeper Building fires Significant
3 $125,000 BOSTON Building fires Significant
4 $125,000 RIXEYVILLE Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $100,000 Culpeper Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 BOSTON Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
7 $75,000 Culpeper Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 BOSTON Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Culpeper Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Culpeper Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Significant
06 How Culpeper County compares

Culpeper County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.25
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Culpeper County
10.25
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Culpeper County
1.58
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Culpeper County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Culpeper County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51047.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Culpeper County

8 departments report from this county.

Culpeper Co Vol Fire Dept
Culpeper
FDID 04702 116 incidents 55 vol
Salem Vol Fire Rescue
CULPEPER
FDID 04704 37 incidents 55 vol
Richardsville Vol Fire Dept
Richardsville
FDID 04703 11 incidents 34 vol
Brandy Station Vol Fire Dept
Brandy Station
FDID 04701 7 incidents 44 vol
Little Fork Vol Fire Rescue
Rixeyville
FDID 04706 1 incidents 60 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.