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2025 County Report

Fires in Stafford County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Stafford County responded to 592 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $580K property loss.

20,689 residents FIPS 51179 36 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
592
3,403 across 5 years
Building fires
53
73 wildland
Property loss
$5.4M
$4.1M structure · $1.3M 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 40% of all calls.

592
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 71 12.0%
Building fires 53 9.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 44 7.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 42 7.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 29 4.9%
All other categories 353 59.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Stafford County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 60
Feb 43
Mar 88
Apr 43
May 1
Jun 1
Jul 60
Aug 61
Sep 48
Oct 53
Nov 79
Dec 55
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Stafford County

3,403 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 727
2022 746
2023 690
2024 648
2025 592
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 53 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
64%
92
Cause undetermined
5%
7
Intentional / arson
4%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
20
Under investigation
11%
16
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Stafford County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 66% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $580,000 Stafford Building fires Major
2 $350,000 Stafford Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Major
3 $330,000 Stafford Building fires Major
4 $325,700 Stafford Building fires Major
5 $250,000 Stafford Building fires Major
6 $250,000 STAFFORD Building fires Major
7 $230,000 STAFFORD Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 Stafford Building fires Significant
9 $132,600 Stafford Building fires Significant
10 $76,000 STAFFORD Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
06 How Stafford County compares

Stafford County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

28.61
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Stafford County
28.61
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
2.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Stafford County
2.56
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Stafford County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Stafford County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51179.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Stafford County

9 departments report from this county.

Falmouth Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 17901 0 incidents 50 vol
Stafford Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 17902 0 incidents 70 vol
Widewater Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 17903 0 incidents 55 vol
Mountain View Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 17904 0 incidents 31 vol
Brooke Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 17905 0 incidents 42 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.