In 2025, fire departments serving Boone responded to 184 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.6M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,126 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 232 | — | |
| 2022 | 246 | +6.0% | |
| 2023 | 261 | +6.1% | |
| 2024 | 203 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 184 | -9.4% |
For the 12 building fires Boone departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 193 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 14.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 9 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 56 | 29.0% |
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 Boone mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 50 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boone departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $18,995 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boone sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 58,352 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Other causes | 2,005 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,760 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,727 | 24.7 mi |
Top 6 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 Boone. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Boone.
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.