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2025 County Report

Fires in Virginia Beach city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Virginia Beach city responded to 2,381 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

457,900 residents FIPS 51810 62 cities · 17 fire depts
Total incidents
2,381
9,542 across 5 years
Building fires
171
154 wildland
Property loss
$24.0M
$16.8M structure · $7.2M contents
Casualties
5 / 30
5 civ deaths · 26 civ inj · 4 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 51% of all calls.

2,381
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 346 14.5%
Power line down 281 11.8%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 212 8.9%
Unauthorized burning 210 8.8%
Building fires 171 7.2%
All other categories 1,161 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Virginia Beach city?

Sep peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 172
Feb 128
Mar 187
Apr 183
May 216
Jun 179
Jul 234
Aug 214
Sep 246
Oct 202
Nov 220
Dec 200
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Virginia Beach city

9,542 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,077
2022 1,345
2023 1,598
2024 2,141
2025 2,381
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 171 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
288
Cause undetermined
10%
46
Intentional / arson
4%
20
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
69
Under investigation
8%
35
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $9.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Virginia Beach city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 55% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 VAB Building fires Major
2 $1,340,200 VAB Building fires Major
3 $1,079,050 VAB Building fires Major
4 $1,069,200 VAB Building fires Major
5 $1,000,000 VAB Building fires Major
6 $750,000 VAB Building fires Major
7 $600,000 VAB Passenger vehicle fire Major
8 $500,000 VAB Building fires Major
9 $500,000 VAB Building fires Major
10 $450,000 VAB Building fires Major
06 How Virginia Beach city compares

Virginia Beach city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.2
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Virginia Beach city
5.2
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.37
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Virginia Beach city
0.37
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
10.9
Civilian fire deaths per million
Virginia Beach city
10.9
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Virginia Beach city

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51810.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Virginia Beach city

17 departments report from this county.

Virginia Beach Fire Dept
—
FDID 81000 2,407 incidents 357 paid 130 vol
DAVIS CORNER VOL FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81002 0 incidents
LONDON BRIDGE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81003 0 incidents
CHESAPEAKE BEACH FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81004 0 incidents
COURTHOUSE FIRE DEPT
—
FDID 81005 0 incidents
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.