In 2025, fire departments serving Apex responded to 389 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.8M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,007 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 386 | — | |
| 2022 | 415 | +7.5% | |
| 2023 | 374 | -9.9% | |
| 2024 | 443 | +18.4% | |
| 2025 | 389 | -12.2% |
For the 44 building fires Apex departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 470 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 63 | 13.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 60 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 58 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 52 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 48 | 10.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 42 | 8.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 91 | 19.4% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Apex mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 228 | 48.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 29 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 16 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 15.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Apex departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,847,003 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,450 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $65,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Apex sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
18 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,452 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 400 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 10.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 10.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 28.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 35.9 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Apex. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Apex.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.