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2025 County Report

Fires in Richmond city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Richmond city responded to 3,721 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $800K property loss.

227,171 residents FIPS 51760 8 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
3,721
15,043 across 5 years
Building fires
236
189 wildland
Property loss
$11.2M
$7.6M structure · $3.5M contents
Casualties
0 / 27
0 civ deaths · 16 civ inj · 11 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.

3,721
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 1,050 28.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 685 18.4%
Building fires 236 6.3%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 159 4.3%
Power line down 158 4.2%
All other categories 1,433 38.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Richmond city?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 331
Feb 435
Mar 429
Apr 331
May 66
Jun 344
Jul 69
Aug 320
Sep 316
Oct 352
Nov 401
Dec 327
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Richmond city

15,043 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,068
2022 1,010
2023 4,191
2024 4,053
2025 3,721
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 236 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
317
Cause undetermined
16%
96
Intentional / arson
9%
55
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
71
Under investigation
9%
58
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
11
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Richmond city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 43% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $800,000 RICHMOND Building fires Major
2 $500,000 RICHMOND Building fires Major
3 $350,000 RICHMOND Building fires Major
4 $313,200 Richmond Building fires Major
5 $280,000 Richmond Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Richmond Building fires Major
7 $250,000 RICHMOND Building fires Major
8 $200,000 RICHMOND Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 RICHMOND Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 RICHMOND Building fires Significant
06 How Richmond city compares

Richmond city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.38
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Richmond city
16.38
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
1.04
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Richmond city
1.04
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Richmond city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Richmond city

8 cities mapped to FIPS 51760.

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.