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2025 County Report

Fires in Prince Edward County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Prince Edward County responded to 302 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

9,583 residents FIPS 51147 18 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
302
1,163 across 5 years
Building fires
32
46 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$948K structure · $492K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 73% of all calls.

302
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 115 38.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 36 11.9%
Building fires 32 10.6%
Power line down 22 7.3%
Cooking fire, confined to container 14 4.6%
All other categories 83 27.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Prince Edward County?

Feb peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 39
Feb 108
Mar 25
Apr 21
May 6
Jun 2
Jul 20
Aug 19
Sep 15
Oct 17
Nov 18
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Prince Edward County

1,163 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 218
2022 242
2023 207
2024 194
2025 302
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 32 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
26
Cause undetermined
12%
6
Intentional / arson
17%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
4
Under investigation
6%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $850K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Prince Edward County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 RICE Building fires Major
2 $150,000 FARMVILLE Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Farmville Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 RICE Building fires Significant
5 $75,000 FARMVILLE Building fires Significant
6 $45,000 Farmville Building fires Significant
7 $40,000 PROSPECT Building fires Significant
8 $35,000 FARMVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 FARMVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $25,000 Farmville Building fires Significant
06 How Prince Edward County compares

Prince Edward County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

31.51
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Prince Edward County
31.51
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
3.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Prince Edward County
3.34
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Prince Edward County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Prince Edward County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51147.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Prince Edward County

5 departments report from this county.

Farmville Fire Department
Farmville
FDID 14701 145 incidents 50 vol
Prospect Vol Fire Dept Inc
—
FDID 14704 33 incidents 13 vol
Rice Vol Fire Dept
Rice
FDID 14705 31 incidents 12 vol
HampdenSydney Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 14702 0 incidents 30 vol
Darlington Heights VFD
Darlington Heights
FDID 14703 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.