Home› Counties› VA› Lee County
2025 County Report

Fires in Lee County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Lee County responded to 85 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

5,273 residents FIPS 51105 55 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
85
228 across 5 years
Building fires
41
5 wildland
Property loss
$1.7M
$961K structure · $701K 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 85% of all calls.

85
Total Incidents
Building fires 41 48.2%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 15 17.6%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 11.8%
Fire, other 3 3.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 3.5%
All other categories 13 15.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lee County?

Nov peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 4
Feb 8
Mar 11
Apr 0
May 1
Jun 12
Jul 8
Aug 4
Sep 8
Oct 12
Nov 15
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lee County

228 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 48
2022 34
2023 32
2024 29
2025 85
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
32%
12
Cause undetermined
54%
20
Intentional / arson
3%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
2
Under investigation
5%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $605K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lee County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 63% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
3 $75,000 Pennington gap Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Rose Hill Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 Rose Hill Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Ewing Building fires Significant
06 How Lee County compares

Lee County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.12
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lee County
16.12
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
7.78
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lee County
7.78
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lee County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51105.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lee County

9 departments report from this county.

Thomas Walker VFD2
—
FDID 10508 31 incidents 21 vol
Thomas Walker VFD1
—
FDID 10504 30 incidents 21 vol
Pennington Gap Vol Fire Dept
Pennington Gap
FDID 10503 29 incidents 24 vol
Stickleyville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 10509 14 incidents 21 vol
Jonesville Vol Fire Dept
Jonesville
FDID 10501 0 incidents 29 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.