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2025 County Report

Fires in Washington County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Washington County responded to 144 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $779K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

5,175 residents FIPS 12133 19 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
144
1,136 across 5 years
Building fires
21
54 wildland
Property loss
$1.5M
$1.2M structure · $380K 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 59% of all calls.

144
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 33 22.9%
Building fires 21 14.6%
Grass fire 14 9.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 10 6.9%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 7 4.9%
All other categories 59 41.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Washington County?

Jan peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 28
Feb 17
Mar 22
Apr 12
May 12
Jun 8
Jul 11
Aug 12
Sep 20
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Washington County

1,136 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 88
2022 319
2023 363
2024 222
2025 144
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 21 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
65%
64
Cause undetermined
5%
5
Intentional / arson
9%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
10
Under investigation
10%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Washington County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $779,000 Chipley Building fires Major
2 $144,995 Chipley Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
3 $75,000 Chipley Building fires Significant
4 $70,000 Chipley Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Chipley Building fires Significant
6 $18,000 Chipley Building fires Significant
7 $15,000 Chipley Building fires Significant
8 $5,000 Chipley Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $1,000 Chipley Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Washington County compares

Washington County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

27.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Washington County
27.83
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
4.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Washington County
4.06
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Washington County
0
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Washington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 12133.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Washington County

9 departments report from this county.

CHIPLEY FIRE DEPT
Chipley
FDID 50012 58 incidents 1 paid 19 vol
COUNTRY OAKS VOL FIRE DEPT INC
Chipley
FDID 50015 2 incidents 100 paid
EBRO VOL FIRE DEPT
Chipley
FDID 50061 1 incidents
VERNON FIRE RESCUE
Vernon
FDID 50011 0 incidents 16 vol
WAUSAU VOL FIRE DEPT
Chipley
FDID 50031 0 incidents 20 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.