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2025 County Report

Fires in Rockbridge County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Rockbridge County responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1000K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,064 residents FIPS 51163 39 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
101
587 across 5 years
Building fires
21
30 wildland
Property loss
$3.6M
$2.2M structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.

101
Total Incidents
Building fires 21 20.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 18 17.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 8 7.9%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 7 6.9%
Power line down 7 6.9%
All other categories 40 39.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rockbridge County?

Jan peaks. May dips.

Jan 19
Feb 6
Mar 15
Apr 11
May 0
Jun 4
Jul 13
Aug 9
Sep 7
Oct 8
Nov 7
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rockbridge County

587 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 83
2022 95
2023 147
2024 161
2025 101
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 21 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
48%
19
Cause undetermined
15%
6
Intentional / arson
8%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
3
Under investigation
15%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rockbridge County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $999,999 GOSHEN Building fires Major
2 $375,000 Vesuvius Building fires Major
3 $210,000 GOSHEN Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 GLASGOW Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Fairfield Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 GLASGOW Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 RAPHINE Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Glasgow Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Fairfield Building fires Significant
10 $14,000 GLASGOW Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Rockbridge County compares

Rockbridge County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.85
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rockbridge County
24.85
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
5.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rockbridge County
5.17
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rockbridge County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rockbridge County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51163.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Rockbridge County

9 departments report from this county.

Glasgow Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16302 40 incidents 29 vol
Goshen Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16303 26 incidents 31 vol
Raphine Vol Fire Co Inc
RAPHINE
FDID 16305 21 incidents 30 vol
Kerrs Creek Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16304 15 incidents 28 vol
Effinger Vol Fire Dept
Lexington
FDID 16301 12 incidents 30 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.