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2025 County Report

Fires in Isle of Wight County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Isle of Wight County responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $900K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

21,653 residents FIPS 51093 36 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
24
389 across 5 years
Building fires
5
5 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$1.0M structure · $570K 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 71% of all calls.

24
Total Incidents
Building fires 5 20.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 16.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 3 12.5%
Power line down 3 12.5%
Fires in structures other than in a building 2 8.3%
All other categories 7 29.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Isle of Wight County?

Jan peaks. May dips.

Jan 4
Feb 3
Mar 4
Apr 2
May 0
Jun 1
Jul 1
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 2
Nov 2
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Isle of Wight County

389 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 65
2022 184
2023 79
2024 37
2025 24
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 5 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
25%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
25%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Isle of Wight County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $900,000 Benns Church Census Building fires Major
2 $75,000 ZUNI Building fires Significant
3 $20,000 Town of Windsor Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $15,000 ZUNI Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Isle of Wight County compares

Isle of Wight County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

1.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Isle of Wight County
1.11
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.23
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Isle of Wight County
0.23
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Isle of Wight County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Isle of Wight County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51093.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Isle of Wight County

5 departments report from this county.

Carrollton Vol Fire Dept
Carrollton
FDID 09301 0 incidents 55 vol
Carrsville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 09302 0 incidents 35 vol
Smithfield Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 09303 0 incidents 35 vol
Windsor Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 09304 0 incidents 22 vol
Rushmere Vol Fire Dept
Smithfield
FDID 09305 0 incidents 23 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.