In 2025, fire departments serving Broadway responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $139K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
332 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $318K cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 87 | — | |
| 2022 | 68 | -21.8% | |
| 2023 | 71 | +4.4% | |
| 2024 | 53 | -25.4% | |
| 2025 | 53 | +0.0% |
For the 14 building fires Broadway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 156 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 | 51 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 24 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 14.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 2 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 10.9% |
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 Broadway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 43.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Match | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 20 | 12.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Broadway departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $139,000 | Aircraft fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,164 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,020 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Broadway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,817 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 547 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 27.0 mi |
Top 2 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 Broadway. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Broadway.
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.