diff --git a/Directory.Version.props b/Directory.Version.props
index 8596ae5..2e9cd58 100644
--- a/Directory.Version.props
+++ b/Directory.Version.props
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 <Project>
   <PropertyGroup>
-    <VersionPrefix>7.0.1</VersionPrefix>
+    <VersionPrefix>8.0.0</VersionPrefix>
   </PropertyGroup>
 </Project>
diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 1feed22..9eec1d2 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -189,7 +189,7 @@ Only a limited subset of configuration options are currently available in this m
 
 ### Performance
 
-By default, the file sink will flush each event written through it to disk. To improve write performance, specifying `buffered: true` will permit the underlying stream to buffer writes.
+By default, the file sink will flush each event written through it to disk. To improve write performance, specifying `buffered: true` will permit the underlying stream to buffer writes. However, events with `LogEventLevel.Fatal` will always be flushed to disk immediately.
 
 The [Serilog.Sinks.Async](https://github.com/serilog/serilog-sinks-async) package can be used to wrap the file sink and perform all disk access on a background worker thread.
 
diff --git a/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/FileLoggerConfigurationExtensions.cs b/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/FileLoggerConfigurationExtensions.cs
index e3e8bcf..d75124b 100644
--- a/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/FileLoggerConfigurationExtensions.cs
+++ b/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/FileLoggerConfigurationExtensions.cs
@@ -49,8 +49,8 @@ public static class FileLoggerConfigurationExtensions
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <returns>Configuration object allowing method chaining.</returns>
@@ -89,8 +89,8 @@ public static LoggerConfiguration File(
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <returns>Configuration object allowing method chaining.</returns>
@@ -126,8 +126,8 @@ public static LoggerConfiguration File(
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <param name="rollingInterval">The interval at which logging will roll over to a new file.</param>
@@ -175,8 +175,8 @@ public static LoggerConfiguration File(
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <param name="rollingInterval">The interval at which logging will roll over to a new file.</param>
@@ -221,8 +221,8 @@ public static LoggerConfiguration File(
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <param name="rollingInterval">The interval at which logging will roll over to a new file.</param>
@@ -291,8 +291,8 @@ public static LoggerConfiguration File(
     /// <param name="fileSizeLimitBytes">The approximate maximum size, in bytes, to which a log file will be allowed to grow.
     /// For unrestricted growth, pass null. The default is 1 GB. To avoid writing partial events, the last event within the limit
     /// will be written in full even if it exceeds the limit.</param>
-    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing to the output file can be buffered or not. The default
-    /// is false.</param>
+    /// <param name="buffered">Indicates if flushing of non-fatal <see cref="LogEventLevel.Fatal"/> events to the output file
+    /// can be buffered or not. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="shared">Allow the log file to be shared by multiple processes. The default is false.</param>
     /// <param name="flushToDiskInterval">If provided, a full disk flush will be performed periodically at the specified interval.</param>
     /// <param name="rollingInterval">The interval at which logging will roll over to a new file.</param>
diff --git a/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/Sinks/File/FileSink.cs b/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/Sinks/File/FileSink.cs
index 32c0cd3..14c9f56 100644
--- a/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/Sinks/File/FileSink.cs
+++ b/src/Serilog.Sinks.File/Sinks/File/FileSink.cs
@@ -122,7 +122,10 @@ bool IFileSink.EmitOrOverflow(LogEvent logEvent)
             }
 
             _textFormatter.Format(logEvent, _output);
-            if (!_buffered)
+
+            if (logEvent.Level == LogEventLevel.Fatal)
+                FlushToDisk();
+            else if (!_buffered)
                 _output.Flush();
 
             return true;
diff --git a/test/Serilog.Sinks.File.Tests/FileSinkTests.cs b/test/Serilog.Sinks.File.Tests/FileSinkTests.cs
index b42a562..fa7ea49 100644
--- a/test/Serilog.Sinks.File.Tests/FileSinkTests.cs
+++ b/test/Serilog.Sinks.File.Tests/FileSinkTests.cs
@@ -1,10 +1,11 @@
-using System.IO.Compression;
-using System.Text;
 using Serilog.Core;
-using Xunit;
+using Serilog.Events;
 using Serilog.Formatting.Json;
 using Serilog.Sinks.File.Tests.Support;
 using Serilog.Tests.Support;
+using System.IO.Compression;
+using System.Text;
+using Xunit;
 
 #pragma warning disable 618
 
@@ -235,6 +236,28 @@ public static void OnOpenedLifecycleHookCanEmptyTheFileContents()
         Assert.Equal('{', lines[0][0]);
     }
 
+    [Fact]
+    public void WhenBufferedFatalEventFlushesAllPendingEvents()
+    {
+        using var tmp = TempFolder.ForCaller();
+        var path = tmp.AllocateFilename("txt");
+        var formatter = new JsonFormatter();
+
+        using (var sink = new FileSink(path, formatter, null, null, true))
+        {
+            sink.Emit(Some.LogEvent(level: LogEventLevel.Information));
+            sink.Emit(Some.LogEvent(level: LogEventLevel.Warning));
+
+            var lines = ReadAllLinesShared(path);
+            Assert.Empty(lines);
+
+            sink.Emit(Some.LogEvent(level: LogEventLevel.Fatal));
+
+            lines = ReadAllLinesShared(path);
+            Assert.Equal(3, lines.Length);
+        }
+    }
+
     static void WriteTwoEventsAndCheckOutputFileLength(long? maxBytes, Encoding encoding)
     {
         using var tmp = TempFolder.ForCaller();
@@ -260,4 +283,21 @@ static void WriteTwoEventsAndCheckOutputFileLength(long? maxBytes, Encoding enco
         size = new FileInfo(path).Length;
         Assert.Equal(encoding.GetPreamble().Length + eventOuputLength * 2, size);
     }
+
+    private static string[] ReadAllLinesShared(string path)
+    {
+        // ReadAllLines cannot be used here, as it can't read files even if they are opened with FileShare.Read
+        using var fs = new FileStream(path, FileMode.Open, FileAccess.Read, FileShare.ReadWrite);
+        using var reader = new StreamReader(fs);
+
+        string? line;
+        List<string> lines = [];
+
+        while ((line = reader.ReadLine()) != null)
+        {
+            lines.Add(line);
+        }
+
+        return [.. lines];
+    }
 }