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2025 County Report

Fires in Lancaster County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Lancaster County responded to 9 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $3K property loss.

2,371 residents FIPS 51103 33 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
9
63 across 5 years
Building fires
4
3 wildland
Property loss
$12K
$8K structure · $4K 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 100% of all calls.

9
Total Incidents
Building fires 4 44.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 33.3%
Overheated motor 1 11.1%
Power line down 1 11.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lancaster County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

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

Year over year in Lancaster County

63 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 11
2022 3
2023 24
2024 16
2025 9
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

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

3 fires · $8K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lancaster County during 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $3,000 White Stone Building fires Significant
2 $3,000 White Stone Building fires Significant
3 $2,000 White Stone Building fires Significant
06 How Lancaster County compares

Lancaster County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lancaster County
3.8
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.69
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lancaster County
1.69
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lancaster County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lancaster County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51103.

CityPopulation 
Kilmarnock 1,284 View ›
Irvington 519 View ›
White Stone 311 View ›
Weems 235 View ›
Lancaster 22 View ›
Christ Church 0 View ›
Somers 0 View ›
Monaskon 0 View ›
Richtown 0 View ›
Boer 0 View ›
Millenbeck 0 View ›
Milestone 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lancaster County

3 departments report from this county.

White Stone Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 10306 9 incidents 54 vol
Upper Lancaster VFD
—
FDID 10307 0 incidents 45 vol
Kilmarnock Vol Fire Dept
Kilmarnock
FDID 10308 0 incidents 50 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.