Home› Counties› VA› Roanoke city
2025 County Report

Fires in Roanoke city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Roanoke city responded to 1,547 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.5M property loss.

99,213 residents FIPS 51770 2 cities · 67 fire depts
Total incidents
1,547
5,417 across 5 years
Building fires
75
96 wildland
Property loss
$12.9M
$6.5M structure · $6.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 5
0 civ deaths · 4 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

1,547
Total Incidents
Power line down 439 28.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 167 10.8%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 103 6.7%
Unauthorized burning 100 6.5%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 79 5.1%
All other categories 659 42.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Roanoke city?

Feb peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 131
Feb 190
Mar 152
Apr 138
May 144
Jun 140
Jul 109
Aug 95
Sep 94
Oct 106
Nov 136
Dec 112
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Roanoke city

5,417 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,039
2022 1,112
2023 336
2024 1,383
2025 1,547
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 75 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
118
Cause undetermined
11%
25
Intentional / arson
9%
19
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
20
Under investigation
6%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Roanoke city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 48% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,500,000 Roanoke Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Roanoke Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Roanoke Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
4 $200,000 ROANOKE Building fires Significant
5 $200,000 Roanoke Building fires Significant
6 $175,000 ROANOKE Building fires Significant
7 $166,500 Roanoke Building fires Significant
8 $125,000 Roanoke Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
9 $116,800 Roanoke Building fires Significant
10 $102,000 Roanoke Building fires Significant
06 How Roanoke city compares

Roanoke city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.59
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Roanoke city
15.59
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.76
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Roanoke city
0.76
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Roanoke city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Roanoke city

2 cities mapped to FIPS 51770.

CityPopulation 
Roanoke 99,213 View ›
Garden City 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Roanoke city

67 departments report from this county.

Roanoke City Fire EMSCo 1
—
FDID 77001 0 incidents
Roanoke City Fire EMSCo 2
—
FDID 77002 0 incidents
Roanoke City Fire EMSCo 3
—
FDID 77003 0 incidents
Roanoke City Fire EMSCo 4
—
FDID 77004 0 incidents
Roanoke City Fire EMSCo 5
—
FDID 77005 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.