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2025 County Report

Fires in Westmoreland County, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Westmoreland County responded to 132 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

4,263 residents FIPS 51193 40 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
132
786 across 5 years
Building fires
14
20 wildland
Property loss
$470K
$400K structure · $70K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.

132
Total Incidents
Building fires 14 10.6%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 13 9.8%
Hazardous condition, other 11 8.3%
Power line down 11 8.3%
Aircraft standby 9 6.8%
All other categories 74 56.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Westmoreland County?

Aug peaks. May dips.

Jan 6
Feb 14
Mar 6
Apr 3
May 1
Jun 8
Jul 15
Aug 25
Sep 22
Oct 13
Nov 7
Dec 12
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Westmoreland County

786 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 120
2022 155
2023 164
2024 215
2025 132
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 14 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
14
Cause undetermined
27%
7
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
3
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

4 fires · $400K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Westmoreland County during 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Colonial Beach Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 Town of Colonial Bea Building fires Significant
3 $60,000 Oak Grove Building fires Significant
4 $40,000 Oak Grove Building or structure weakened or collapsed Significant
06 How Westmoreland County compares

Westmoreland County vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

30.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Westmoreland County
30.96
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
3.28
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Westmoreland County
3.28
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Westmoreland County
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Westmoreland County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 51193.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Westmoreland County

4 departments report from this county.

Colonial Beach Vol Fire Dept
—
FDID 19301 58 incidents 58 vol
Oak Grove Vol Fire Dept
COLONIAL BEACH
FDID 19303 44 incidents 40 vol
Westmoreland Vol Fire Dept
Montross
FDID 19304 39 incidents 25 vol
Cople District Vol Fire Dept
Kinsale
FDID 19302 0 incidents 29 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.