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2025 County Report

Fires in Patrick County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Patrick County responded to 332 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200.0M property loss.

3,776 residents FIPS 51141 26 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
332
1,262 across 5 years
Building fires
60
63 wildland
Property loss
$204.8M
$201.6M structure · $3.2M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.

332
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 66 19.9%
Hazardous condition, other 65 19.6%
Building fires 60 18.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 45 13.6%
Power line down 26 7.8%
All other categories 70 21.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Patrick County?

Feb peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 27
Feb 88
Mar 52
Apr 21
May 19
Jun 17
Jul 16
Aug 9
Sep 13
Oct 17
Nov 27
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Patrick County

1,262 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 179
2022 200
2023 250
2024 301
2025 332
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 60 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
23%
6
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
12%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
23%
6
Under investigation
38%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $201.6M in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000,000 PATRICK COUNTY Building fires Catastrophic
2 $1,000,000 Stuart Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Stuart Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Meadows of Dan Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Patrick Springs Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $50,000 Patrick Springs Fire, other Significant
7 $50,000 Patrick Springs Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
8 $40,000 Patrick Springs Building fires Significant
9 $35,000 Patrick Springs Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 Stuart Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Patrick County compares

Patrick County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

87.92
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Patrick County
87.92
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
15.89
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Patrick County
15.89
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Patrick County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Patrick County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51141.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Patrick County

10 departments report from this county.

Stuart Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14106 104 incidents 20 vol
Woolwine Vol Fire Dept
WOOLWINE
FDID 14108 93 incidents 33 vol
Patrick Springs Vol Fire Dept
Patrick Springs
FDID 14110 75 incidents 42 vol
PatrickHenry Vol Fire Dept
PATRICK SPRINGS
FDID 14107 52 incidents 50 vol
Ararat Vol Fire Dept
Ararat
FDID 14101 18 incidents 30 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.