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2025 County Report

Fires in Suffolk city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Suffolk city responded to 471 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $582K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

94,856 residents FIPS 51800 14 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
471
2,547 across 5 years
Building fires
41
43 wildland
Property loss
$4.8M
$3.7M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 5 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

471
Total Incidents
Power line down 71 15.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 44 9.3%
Building fires 41 8.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 38 8.1%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 35 7.4%
All other categories 242 51.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Suffolk city?

Jul peaks. Apr dips.

Jan 70
Feb 52
Mar 88
Apr 0
May 0
Jun 0
Jul 93
Aug 46
Sep 53
Oct 69
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Suffolk city

2,547 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 474
2022 611
2023 502
2024 489
2025 471
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 41 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
58%
57
Cause undetermined
9%
9
Intentional / arson
2%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
19%
19
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Suffolk city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $581,700 Suffolk Building fires Major
2 $581,700 Suffolk Building fires Major
3 $375,000 Suffolk Building fires Major
4 $350,000 Suffolk Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
5 $250,000 Suffolk Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Suffolk Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Suffolk Building fires Major
8 $100,000 Suffolk Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Suffolk Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
10 $90,000 Suffolk Building fires Significant
06 How Suffolk city compares

Suffolk city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.97
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Suffolk city
4.97
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Suffolk city
0.43
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Suffolk city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Suffolk city

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51800.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Suffolk city

5 departments report from this county.

Suffolk Dept of Fire Rescue
SUFFOLK
FDID 80000 486 incidents 205 paid 90 vol
Chuckatuck Vol Fire Dept
SUFFOLK
FDID 80001 0 incidents 9 paid
Driver Vol Fire Dept
SUFFOLK
FDID 80002 0 incidents 50 vol
Holland Vol Fire Dept
SUFFOLK
FDID 80003 0 incidents 1 paid 21 vol
Whaleyville Vol Fire Dept
SUFFOLK
FDID 80004 0 incidents 9 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.