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2025 County Report

Fires in Southampton County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Southampton County responded to 122 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

4,222 residents FIPS 51175 40 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
122
592 across 5 years
Building fires
18
35 wildland
Property loss
$1.2M
$827K structure · $374K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.

122
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 24 19.7%
Building fires 18 14.8%
Aircraft standby 14 11.5%
Power line down 13 10.7%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 7 5.7%
All other categories 46 37.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Southampton County?

Jul peaks. May dips.

Jan 15
Feb 16
Mar 15
Apr 5
May 0
Jun 4
Jul 19
Aug 10
Sep 5
Oct 11
Nov 8
Dec 14
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Southampton County

592 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 86
2022 164
2023 129
2024 91
2025 122
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 18 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
60%
18
Cause undetermined
3%
1
Intentional / arson
3%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
3
Under investigation
13%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
11%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $804K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Southampton County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 CAPRON Building fires Major
2 $250,000 CAPRON Building fires Major
3 $100,000 DREWRYVILLE Building fires Significant
4 $75,000 Wakefield Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 BOYKINS Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
6 $29,066 Newsoms Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 DREWRYVILLE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $15,000 DREWRYVILLE Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle Significant
9 $10,000 DREWRYVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 Wakefield Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
06 How Southampton County compares

Southampton County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

28.9
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Southampton County
28.9
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
4.26
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Southampton County
4.26
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Southampton County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Southampton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51175.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Southampton County

8 departments report from this county.

Newsoms Vol Fire Dept
Newsoms
FDID 17507 29 incidents 27 vol
Drewryville Vol Fire Dept
Drewryville
FDID 17509 28 incidents 19 vol
Ivor Vol Fire Dept
Ivor
FDID 17506 25 incidents 39 vol
Boykins Vol Fire Dept
Boykins
FDID 17501 15 incidents 30 vol
Courtland Vol Fire Dept
Courtland
FDID 17504 14 incidents 25 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.