Home› Counties› VA› Petersburg city
2025 County Report

Fires in Petersburg city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Petersburg city responded to 405 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $133K property loss.

33,261 residents FIPS 51730 5 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
405
1,432 across 5 years
Building fires
50
24 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $437K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 4 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

405
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 61 15.1%
Building fires 50 12.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 31 7.7%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 30 7.4%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 28 6.9%
All other categories 205 50.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Petersburg city?

Jul peaks. May dips.

Jan 34
Feb 42
Mar 45
Apr 46
May 0
Jun 6
Jul 56
Aug 29
Sep 43
Oct 39
Nov 36
Dec 29
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Petersburg city

1,432 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 136
2022 90
2023 282
2024 519
2025 405
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 50 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
61
Cause undetermined
17%
20
Intentional / arson
7%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
12
Under investigation
11%
13
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $723K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Petersburg city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 54% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $132,900 PETERSBURG Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 PETERSBURG Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Petersburg Building fires Significant
4 $80,000 Petersburg Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 PETERSBURG Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Petersburg Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Petersburg Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 PETERSBURG Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 PETERSBURG Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Petersburg Building fires Significant
06 How Petersburg city compares

Petersburg city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.18
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Petersburg city
12.18
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.5
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Petersburg city
1.5
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Petersburg city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Petersburg city

5 cities mapped to FIPS 51730.

CityPopulation 
Petersburg 33,261 View ›
Kennelworth 0 View ›
Battersea 0 View ›
Heights 0 View ›
Blandford 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Petersburg city

1 departments report from this county.

Petersburg Fire Rescue
Petersburg
FDID 73000 365 incidents 78 paid
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.