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2025 County Report

Fires in Franklin County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin County responded to 360 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $479K property loss.

15,599 residents FIPS 51067 37 cities · 11 fire depts
Total incidents
360
1,278 across 5 years
Building fires
54
81 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$2.1M structure · $657K contents
Casualties
2 / 8
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 8 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

360
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 61 16.9%
Power line down 59 16.4%
Building fires 54 15.0%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 19 5.3%
Fire, other 18 5.0%
All other categories 149 41.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Franklin County?

Feb peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 59
Feb 101
Mar 66
Apr 41
May 14
Jun 3
Jul 14
Aug 13
Sep 8
Oct 10
Nov 20
Dec 11
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Franklin County

1,278 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 35
2022 179
2023 338
2024 366
2025 360
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 54 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
49%
45
Cause undetermined
20%
18
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
12
Under investigation
14%
13
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Franklin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 81% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $479,300 Scruggs Building fires Major
2 $250,000 ROCKY MOUNT Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
3 $200,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
4 $189,100 HENRY Building fires Significant
5 $189,000 HENRY Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 BOONES MILL Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 BOONES MILL Building fires Significant
06 How Franklin County compares

Franklin County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.08
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
23.08
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
3.46
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
3.46
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
128.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Franklin County
128.2
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Franklin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51067.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Franklin County

11 departments report from this county.

Rocky Mount Vol Fire Dept
Rocky Mount
FDID 06707 106 incidents 30 vol
Burnt Chimney Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 06702 77 incidents 47 vol
Glade Hill Vol Fire Dept
Glade Hill
FDID 06706 41 incidents 25 paid 100 vol
Boones Mill Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 06701 39 incidents 51 vol
Snow Creek Vol Fire Dept
Penhook
FDID 06710 32 incidents 22 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.