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2025 County Report

Fires in Salem city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Salem city responded to 338 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $175K property loss.

25,372 residents FIPS 51775 1 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
338
1,241 across 5 years
Building fires
20
31 wildland
Property loss
$834K
$570K structure · $263K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

338
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 74 21.9%
Power line down 61 18.0%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 25 7.4%
Building fires 20 5.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 5.0%
All other categories 141 41.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Salem city?

Feb peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 36
Feb 47
Mar 29
Apr 30
May 21
Jun 27
Jul 34
Aug 19
Sep 21
Oct 24
Nov 31
Dec 19
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Salem city

1,241 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 181
2022 282
2023 172
2024 268
2025 338
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 20 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
23
Cause undetermined
12%
6
Intentional / arson
10%
5
Equipment / heat source failure
24%
12
Under investigation
8%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $525K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Salem city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $175,000 SALEM Building fires Significant
2 $106,000 Salem Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 City of Salem Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 City of Salem Building fires Significant
5 $30,000 Salem Building fires Significant
6 $18,400 Salem Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 Salem Building fires Significant
8 $11,000 Salem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $10,000 Salem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Salem Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Salem city compares

Salem city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.32
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Salem city
13.32
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.79
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Salem city
0.79
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Salem city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Salem city

1 cities mapped to FIPS 51775.

CityPopulation 
Salem 25,372 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Salem city

2 departments report from this county.

Salem Fire EMS Dept
Salem
FDID 77500 209 incidents 57 paid
SALEM FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 77501 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.