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2025 County Report

Fires in Williamsburg city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Williamsburg city responded to 475 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

15,486 residents FIPS 51830 5 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
475
2,628 across 5 years
Building fires
49
38 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$998K structure · $630K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 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 58% of all calls.

475
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 118 24.8%
Building fires 49 10.3%
Unauthorized burning 38 8.0%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 37 7.8%
Power line down 35 7.4%
All other categories 198 41.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Williamsburg city?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 39
Feb 41
Mar 61
Apr 37
May 36
Jun 30
Jul 33
Aug 39
Sep 35
Oct 24
Nov 57
Dec 43
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Williamsburg city

2,628 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 421
2022 616
2023 562
2024 554
2025 475
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 49 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
56%
60
Cause undetermined
18%
19
Intentional / arson
6%
6
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
13
Under investigation
8%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $847K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Williamsburg city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
2 $150,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
6 $76,820 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 Williamsburg Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
8 $25,000 Williamsburg Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $20,000 Williamsburg Building fires Significant
10 $15,000 Williamsburg Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Williamsburg city compares

Williamsburg city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

30.67
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Williamsburg city
30.67
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
3.16
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Williamsburg city
3.16
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Williamsburg city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Williamsburg city

5 cities mapped to FIPS 51830.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Williamsburg city

1 departments report from this county.

Williamsburg Fire Dept
Williamsburg
FDID 83000 115 incidents 25 paid 26 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.