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2025 County Report

Fires in Tazewell County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Tazewell County responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

22,985 residents FIPS 51185 70 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
101
489 across 5 years
Building fires
7
12 wildland
Property loss
$380K
$314K structure · $65K contents
Casualties
2 / 1
2 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 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 56% of all calls.

101
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 20 19.8%
Power line down 14 13.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 9 8.9%
Building fires 7 6.9%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 7 6.9%
All other categories 44 43.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Tazewell County?

Jan peaks. May dips.

Jan 16
Feb 10
Mar 14
Apr 8
May 2
Jun 6
Jul 5
Aug 6
Sep 7
Oct 9
Nov 12
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Tazewell County

489 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 109
2022 41
2023 101
2024 137
2025 101
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 7 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
11
Cause undetermined
5%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
30%
6
Under investigation
10%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $260K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Tazewell County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 Richlands Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
2 $40,000 Raven Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $35,000 Pounding Mill Building fires Significant
4 $25,000 Richlands Fire, other Significant
5 $25,000 Pounding Mill Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $25,000 Raven Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $25,000 Raven Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $15,000 Richlands Building fires Significant
9 $15,000 Raven Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $15,000 Richlands Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Tazewell County compares

Tazewell County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.39
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Tazewell County
4.39
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.3
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Tazewell County
0.3
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
87
Civilian fire deaths per million
Tazewell County
87
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Tazewell County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51185.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Tazewell County

16 departments report from this county.

Richlands Fire Rescue
Richlands
FDID 18505 92 incidents
Tazewell Town Fire Dept
Tazewell
FDID 18507 4 incidents 28 vol
Abbs ValleyBossievain VFD
—
FDID 18501 0 incidents
Bluefield Virginia VFD
BLUEFIELD
FDID 18502 0 incidents 22 vol
Jewell Ridge Vol Fire Dept
Jewell Ridge
FDID 18503 0 incidents 13 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.