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2025 County Report

Fires in Mecklenburg County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Mecklenburg County responded to 403 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $488K property loss.

11,543 residents FIPS 51117 54 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
403
2,609 across 5 years
Building fires
80
69 wildland
Property loss
$3.5M
$2.7M structure · $799K 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 55% of all calls.

403
Total Incidents
Building fires 80 19.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 47 11.7%
Power line down 35 8.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 34 8.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 26 6.5%
All other categories 181 44.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mecklenburg County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 56
Feb 64
Mar 44
Apr 38
May 4
Jun 4
Jul 51
Aug 35
Sep 18
Oct 7
Nov 45
Dec 37
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mecklenburg County

2,609 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 574
2022 588
2023 455
2024 589
2025 403
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 80 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
50
Cause undetermined
20%
17
Intentional / arson
5%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
9
Under investigation
6%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mecklenburg County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 74% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $487,700 Bracey Building fires Major
2 $350,000 alberta Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Buffalo Junction Building fires Major
4 $150,000 LUNENBURG COUNTY Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 Clarksville Building fires Significant
6 $140,000 Chase City Building fires Significant
7 $125,000 Boydton Building fires Significant
8 $123,700 Boydton Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Boydton Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Boydton Building fires Significant
06 How Mecklenburg County compares

Mecklenburg County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

34.91
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mecklenburg County
34.91
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
6.93
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mecklenburg County
6.93
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mecklenburg County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mecklenburg County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51117.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mecklenburg County

8 departments report from this county.

South Hill Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 11707 131 incidents 66 vol
Chase City Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 11703 94 incidents 34 vol
Clarksville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 11704 66 incidents 26 vol
Boydton Vol Fire Dept Inc
—
FDID 11701 58 incidents 26 vol
LaCrosse Vol Fire Dept
LaCrosse
FDID 11705 40 incidents 40 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.