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2025 County Report

Fires in Franklin city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin city responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

8,194 residents FIPS 51620 2 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
98
582 across 5 years
Building fires
18
9 wildland
Property loss
$1.9M
$1.4M structure · $468K 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 56% of all calls.

98
Total Incidents
Building fires 18 18.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 11 11.2%
Fire, other 9 9.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 9.2%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 8 8.2%
All other categories 43 43.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Franklin city?

Jan peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 16
Feb 7
Mar 13
Apr 12
May 6
Jun 1
Jul 3
Aug 2
Sep 12
Oct 10
Nov 7
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Franklin city

582 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 129
2022 134
2023 111
2024 110
2025 98
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
39%
13
Cause undetermined
30%
10
Intentional / arson
6%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
3
Under investigation
15%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Franklin city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Franklin Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $250,000 FRANKLIN Building fires Major
3 $150,000 FRANKLIN Building fires Significant
4 $125,000 FRANKLIN Fire, other Significant
5 $100,000 FRANKLIN Building fires Significant
6 $55,000 FRANKLIN Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $50,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 FRANKLIN Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $25,000 Franklin Building fires Significant
06 How Franklin city compares

Franklin city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Franklin city
11.96
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
2.2
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Franklin city
2.2
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Franklin city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Franklin city

2 cities mapped to FIPS 51620.

CityPopulation 
Franklin 8,194 View ›
Hunterdale 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Franklin city

2 departments report from this county.

Franklin Fire Rescue Dept
—
FDID 62000 59 incidents
Hunterdale Vol Fire Dept
Franklin
FDID 62001 43 incidents 43 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.