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2025 County Report

Fires in Rappahannock County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Rappahannock County responded to 96 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $30K property loss.

1,769 residents FIPS 51157 23 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
96
488 across 5 years
Building fires
16
31 wildland
Property loss
$99K
$57K structure · $42K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

96
Total Incidents
Power line down 20 20.8%
Building fires 16 16.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 15 15.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 7 7.3%
Grass fire 7 7.3%
All other categories 31 32.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rappahannock County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 9
Feb 23
Mar 19
Apr 13
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 6
Aug 2
Sep 3
Oct 2
Nov 16
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rappahannock County

488 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 44
2022 107
2023 133
2024 108
2025 96
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
8
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
36%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
1
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $57K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rappahannock County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $30,000 WASHINGTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $20,000 WASHINGTON Building fires Significant
3 $5,000 amissville Building fires Significant
4 $2,000 Sperryville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
5 $60 Castleton Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
6 $10 Washington Building fires Significant
06 How Rappahannock County compares

Rappahannock County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

54.27
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rappahannock County
54.27
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
9.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rappahannock County
9.04
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rappahannock County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rappahannock County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51157.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Rappahannock County

6 departments report from this county.

Washington Vol Fire Rescue
Washington
FDID 15701 45 incidents 34 vol
Amissville Vol Fire Rescue
AMISSVILLE
FDID 15703 40 incidents 34 vol
Chester Gap Vol Fire Dept
Chester Gap
FDID 15706 22 incidents 19 vol
Flint Hill Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 15704 14 incidents 15 vol
Sperryville Vol Fire Dept
Sperryville
FDID 15702 0 incidents
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.