Home› Counties› VA› Powhatan County
2025 County Report

Fires in Powhatan County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Powhatan County responded to 401 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $538K property loss.

473 residents FIPS 51145 23 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
401
851 across 5 years
Building fires
22
10 wildland
Property loss
$3.4M
$2.4M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.

401
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 165 41.1%
Power line down 56 14.0%
Authorized controlled burning 23 5.7%
Building fires 22 5.5%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 17 4.2%
All other categories 118 29.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Powhatan County?

Feb peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 47
Feb 121
Mar 33
Apr 29
May 30
Jun 37
Jul 35
Aug 15
Sep 15
Oct 8
Nov 15
Dec 16
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Powhatan County

851 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 57
2022 54
2023 60
2024 279
2025 401
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 22 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
30
Cause undetermined
8%
5
Intentional / arson
2%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
9
Under investigation
15%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Powhatan County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $538,100 Moseley Building fires Major
2 $490,000 Powhatan Building fires Major
3 $300,000 Moseley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
4 $223,800 Powhatan Building fires Significant
5 $223,800 Powhatan Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $150,000 Moseley Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $100,000 Moseley Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Moseley Outside storage fire Significant
9 $100,000 Powhatan Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $20,000 Moseley Building fires Significant
06 How Powhatan County compares

Powhatan County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

847.78
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Powhatan County
847.78
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
46.51
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Powhatan County
46.51
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Powhatan County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Powhatan County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51145.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Powhatan County

5 departments report from this county.

Powhatan Co Fire Dept
Powhatan
FDID 14500 357 incidents
Powhatan Co Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14501 0 incidents 22 vol
Huguenot Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14502 0 incidents 30 vol
Macon Fire Dept
—
FDID 14503 0 incidents 22 vol
Fine Creek Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14504 0 incidents 25 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.