In 2025, fire departments across Virginia responded to 51,463 fire and hazmat incidents — including the PINNACLES wildfire that burned 18,055 acres in 2000.
Virginia ranks #26 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Oct dips.
242,046 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41,664 | |
| 2022 | 45,912 | |
| 2023 | 49,400 | |
| 2024 | 53,607 | |
| 2025 | 51,463 |
For the 4,976 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 16,941 | 4,162 / 12,779 | 61,235 | |
| 2 | Equipment & vehicle use | 9,183 | 2,198 / 6,985 | 26,395 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 8,182 | 8,182 / 0 | 63,202 | |
| 4 | Arson / incendiarism | 8,061 | 3,974 / 4,087 | 116,189 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 2,898 | 1,161 / 1,737 | 44,609 | |
| 6 | Smoking | 1,319 | 1,319 / 0 | 9,395 | |
| 7 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,255 | 1,255 / 0 | 2,489 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 1,180 | 316 / 864 | 3,350 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 981 | 981 / 0 | 17,961 | |
| 10 | Recreation & ceremony | 475 | 475 / 0 | 35,175 | |
| 11 | Railroad operations | 462 | 462 / 0 | 14,452 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 48 | 48 / 0 | 7,584 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 46,841 | $6.6M | 7 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 43,648 | $244K | 1 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 43,398 | $1.6M | 0 | |
| 4 | Building fires | 39,773 | $1.1B | 135 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 28,625 | $5.1M | 5 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 16,357 | $194.1M | 45 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 12,421 | $2.2M | 2 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 9,880 | $1.8M | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 4,784 | $23.9M | 2 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 49% of Virginia's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000,000 | PATRICK COUNTY | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $10,000,000 | Danville | Fires in structures other than in a building | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $3,529,222 | Midlothian | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | Winchester | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major |
| 5 | $2,000,000 | Blacksburg | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,000,000 | Hampton | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | Hampton | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $2,000,000 | VAB | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,500,000 | Greenbackville | Fire, other | Major |
| 10 | $1,500,000 | Roanoke | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Virginia apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond city | 3,721 | 227,171 |
| 2 | Fairfax County | 3,538 | 1,129,814 |
| 3 | Prince William County | 2,660 | 385,847 |
| 4 | Virginia Beach city | 2,381 | 457,900 |
| 5 | Henrico County | 2,150 | 204,239 |
| 6 | Norfolk city | 1,936 | 236,973 |
| 7 | Chesterfield County | 1,641 | 147,454 |
| 8 | Loudoun County | 1,587 | 325,995 |
| 9 | Roanoke city | 1,547 | 99,213 |
| 10 | Newport News city | 1,173 | 185,118 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Richmond city | 16.38 | 3,721 | 227,171 | |
| 2 | Roanoke city | 15.59 | 1,547 | 99,213 | |
| 3 | Roanoke County | 11.50 | 591 | 51,376 | |
| 4 | Chesterfield County | 11.13 | 1,641 | 147,454 | |
| 5 | Henrico County | 10.53 | 2,150 | 204,239 | |
| 6 | Lynchburg city | 10.21 | 808 | 79,166 | |
| 7 | Norfolk city | 8.17 | 1,936 | 236,973 | |
| 8 | Hampton city | 7.88 | 1,081 | 137,217 | |
| 9 | Prince William County | 6.89 | 2,660 | 385,847 | |
| 10 | Portsmouth city | 6.77 | 659 | 97,384 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
313 perimeters and 81,652 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1950s | 2 | 85 | |
| 1960s | 19 | 295 | |
| 1970s | 39 | 881 | |
| 1980s | 32 | 5,189 | |
| 1990s | 55 | 5,682 | |
| 2000s | 64 | 31,500 | |
| 2010s | 48 | 19,371 | |
| 2020s | 54 | 18,649 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 6,433 | |
| 2000s | 10,878 | |
| 2010s | 6,826 | |
| 2020s | 405 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 24,542 ignitions total.
1,624 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 57 | |
| 10-19 | 86 | |
| 20-29 | 234 | |
| 30-39 | 275 | |
| 40-49 | 219 | |
| 50-59 | 183 | |
| 60-69 | 138 | |
| 70-79 | 89 | |
| 80+ | 50 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.