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2025 County Report

Fires in Winchester city, VA

In 2025, fire departments serving Winchester city responded to 256 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $75K property loss.

28,103 residents FIPS 51840 1 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
256
1,284 across 5 years
Building fires
23
14 wildland
Property loss
$347K
$289K structure · $58K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 2 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 45% of all calls.

256
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 31 12.1%
Cooking fire, confined to container 26 10.2%
Building fires 23 9.0%
Power line down 21 8.2%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 13 5.1%
All other categories 142 55.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Winchester city?

Nov peaks. Jun dips.

Jan 16
Feb 26
Mar 26
Apr 25
May 23
Jun 10
Jul 21
Aug 16
Sep 24
Oct 18
Nov 35
Dec 16
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Winchester city

1,284 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 289
2022 263
2023 251
2024 225
2025 256
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
32
Cause undetermined
12%
7
Intentional / arson
12%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
5
Under investigation
4%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $261K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Winchester city during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $75,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
2 $60,000 Winchester Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $40,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
4 $20,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
5 $20,000 Winchester Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $12,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
8 $8,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
9 $8,000 Winchester Building fires Significant
10 $7,500 Winchester Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Winchester city compares

Winchester city vs VA vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Winchester city
9.11
VA avg
8.68
US avg
7.15
0.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Winchester city
0.82
VA avg
0.84
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Winchester city
0
VA avg
6.1
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Winchester city

1 cities mapped to FIPS 51840.

CityPopulation 
Winchester 28,103 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Winchester city

6 departments report from this county.

Winchester Fire Rescue
Winchester
FDID 84000 268 incidents 58 paid 50 vol
Millwood Station Fire Rescue
Winchester
FDID 06921 0 incidents 40 vol
WinchesterFriendship Co 1
—
FDID 84001 0 incidents 4 paid 30 vol
WinchesterRouss Co 2
—
FDID 84002 0 incidents 4 paid 23 vol
WinchesterShawnee Co 4
—
FDID 84004 0 incidents 4 paid 35 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.