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2025 County Report

Fires in Scott County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Scott County responded to 114 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $175K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,686 residents FIPS 51169 60 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
114
629 across 5 years
Building fires
23
26 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$1.0M structure · $231K 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 50% of all calls.

114
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 20.2%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 12 10.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 8 7.0%
Power line down 7 6.1%
Prescribed fire 7 6.1%
All other categories 57 50.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Scott County?

Apr peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 18
Feb 11
Mar 22
Apr 23
May 6
Jun 18
Jul 3
Aug 6
Sep 3
Oct 3
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Scott County

629 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 133
2022 139
2023 118
2024 125
2025 114
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
14
Cause undetermined
14%
4
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
18%
5
Under investigation
11%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $820K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Scott County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $175,000 Duffield Building fires Significant
2 $140,000 Gate City Building fires Significant
3 $95,000 Gate City Building fires Significant
4 $85,000 Gate City Building fires Significant
5 $80,000 Gate City Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
6 $75,000 Weber City Building fires Significant
7 $72,000 Gate City Building fires Significant
8 $38,000 Duffield Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 Duffield Building fires Significant
10 $30,000 Duffield Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Scott County compares

Scott County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

24.33
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Scott County
24.33
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
4.91
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Scott County
4.91
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Scott County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Scott County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51169.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Scott County

7 departments report from this county.

Gate City Vol Fire Dept
Gate City
FDID 16903 56 incidents 28 vol
Weber City Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16906 23 incidents 35 vol
Duffield Vol Fire Rescue
Duffield
FDID 16901 14 incidents 30 vol
Dungannon Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16902 4 incidents 12 vol
Nickelsville Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 16905 4 incidents 20 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.