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2025 County Report

Fires in Pittsylvania County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Pittsylvania County responded to 588 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

10,453 residents FIPS 51143 87 cities · 21 fire depts
Total incidents
588
2,960 across 5 years
Building fires
105
129 wildland
Property loss
$2.8M
$1.9M structure · $874K contents
Casualties
2 / 0
2 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 49% of all calls.

588
Total Incidents
Building fires 105 17.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 63 10.7%
Power line down 57 9.7%
Aircraft standby 34 5.8%
Grass fire 28 4.8%
All other categories 301 51.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pittsylvania County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 96
Feb 103
Mar 91
Apr 22
May 4
Jun 20
Jul 46
Aug 28
Sep 21
Oct 60
Nov 51
Dec 46
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pittsylvania County

2,960 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 681
2022 562
2023 636
2024 493
2025 588
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 105 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
68
Cause undetermined
17%
21
Intentional / arson
5%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
16
Under investigation
9%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pittsylvania County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 69% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Ringgold Fires in structures other than in a building Major
2 $230,000 Chatham Building fires Significant
3 $212,400 Chatham Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Ringgold Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
5 $110,500 Ringgold Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 Gretna Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 Ringgold Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 RINGGOLD Building fires Significant
9 $55,800 Hurt Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Hurt Building fires Significant
06 How Pittsylvania County compares

Pittsylvania County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

56.25
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pittsylvania County
56.25
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
10.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pittsylvania County
10.04
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
191.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pittsylvania County
191.3
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pittsylvania County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51143.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pittsylvania County

21 departments report from this county.

Gretna Vol Fire Dept
Gretna
FDID 14312 132 incidents 36 vol
Blairs Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14315 121 incidents 40 vol
Chatham Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14311 105 incidents 40 vol
Brosville Community VFD
DANVILLE
FDID 14313 52 incidents 35 vol
Smith Mntn Lake FireRescue
Penhook
FDID 06709 47 incidents 80 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.