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2025 County Report

Fires in Russell County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Russell County responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $12K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

6,344 residents FIPS 51167 55 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
11
75 across 5 years
Building fires
4
1 wildland
Property loss
$22K
$22K structure · $0 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 82% of all calls.

11
Total Incidents
Building fires 4 36.4%
Fires in structures other than in a building 2 18.2%
Fire, other 1 9.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 1 9.1%
Grass fire 1 9.1%
All other categories 2 18.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Russell County?

Feb peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 4
Mar 1
Apr 2
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 0
Aug 1
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Russell County

75 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 22
2022 21
2023 9
2024 12
2025 11
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
67%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
33%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $22K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Russell County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $12,000 Dante Passenger vehicle fire Significant
2 $10,000 Castlewood Building fires Significant
06 How Russell County compares

Russell County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

1.73
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Russell County
1.73
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.63
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Russell County
0.63
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Russell County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Russell County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51167.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Russell County

7 departments report from this county.

Copper CreekMoccasin VFD
—
FDID 16706 5 incidents 20 vol
Cleveland Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16701 0 incidents 30 vol
Dante Vol Fire Dept
Dante
FDID 16702 0 incidents 50 vol
Honaker Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16703 0 incidents 28 vol
Lebanon Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16704 0 incidents 22 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.