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2025 County Report

Fires in Middlesex County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Middlesex County responded to 121 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

1,896 residents FIPS 51119 33 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
121
407 across 5 years
Building fires
14
22 wildland
Property loss
$792K
$582K structure · $210K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

121
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 23 19.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 15.7%
Aircraft standby 17 14.0%
Building fires 14 11.6%
Power line down 10 8.3%
All other categories 38 31.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Middlesex County?

Jan peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 23
Feb 16
Mar 21
Apr 8
May 7
Jun 7
Jul 14
Aug 10
Sep 6
Oct 2
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Middlesex County

407 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 35
2022 84
2023 75
2024 92
2025 121
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 14 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
18
Cause undetermined
30%
8
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $579K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Middlesex County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Waterview Building fires Major
2 $25,000 Urbanna Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $20,000 Urbanna Building fires Significant
4 $10,000 Urbanna Building fires Significant
5 $10,000 Jamaica Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $5,000 Remlik Building fires Significant
7 $2,500 Locust Hill Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
8 $2,500 Church View Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $2,000 Urbanna Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $2,000 Warner Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Middlesex County compares

Middlesex County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

63.82
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Middlesex County
63.82
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
7.38
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Middlesex County
7.38
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Middlesex County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Middlesex County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51119.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Middlesex County

4 departments report from this county.

Middlesex Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 11903 61 incidents 55 vol
Hartfield Vol Fire Dept
HARTFIELD
FDID 11901 32 incidents 35 vol
Upper Middlesex VFD
—
FDID 11904 31 incidents 4 vol
Lower Middlesex VFD
—
FDID 11902 1 incidents 37 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.