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2025 County Report

Fires in Orange County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Orange County responded to 344 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

15,929 residents FIPS 51137 33 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
344
1,452 across 5 years
Building fires
38
40 wildland
Property loss
$533K
$373K structure · $160K 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 52% of all calls.

344
Total Incidents
Authorized controlled burning 44 12.8%
Building fires 38 11.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 34 9.9%
Power line down 32 9.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 31 9.0%
All other categories 165 48.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Orange County?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 31
Feb 45
Mar 35
Apr 36
May 30
Jun 20
Jul 34
Aug 17
Sep 12
Oct 28
Nov 29
Dec 27
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Orange County

1,452 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 219
2022 249
2023 313
2024 327
2025 344
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 38 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
64%
29
Cause undetermined
16%
7
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
6
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $339K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Orange County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Orange Building fires Significant
2 $92,000 Locust Grove Building fires Significant
3 $30,000 Gordonsville Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
4 $23,000 Locust Grove Building fires Significant
5 $20,000 Gordonsville Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $20,000 Town of Gordonsville Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 Gordonsville Building fires Significant
8 $15,000 Gordonsville Building fires Significant
9 $13,800 Orange Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Gordonsville Building fires Significant
06 How Orange County compares

Orange County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.6
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Orange County
21.6
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
2.39
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Orange County
2.39
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Orange County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Orange County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51137.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Orange County

6 departments report from this county.

Orange Co Fire EMS
Orange
FDID 13700 280 incidents 36 paid
Barboursville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 13701 0 incidents 24 vol
GORDONSVILLE
GORDONSVILLE
FDID 13702 0 incidents 40 vol
Lake of the Woods VFD
—
FDID 13703 0 incidents 33 vol
Mine Run Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 13704 0 incidents 35 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.