In 2025, fire departments serving Calabash responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $102K 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 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
368 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.6M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 75 | — | |
| 2022 | 91 | +21.3% | |
| 2023 | 68 | -25.3% | |
| 2024 | 86 | +26.5% | |
| 2025 | 48 | -44.2% |
For the 12 building fires Calabash departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 143 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 | 23 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 19 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 9 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 23.1% |
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 Calabash mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 51.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 15 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Match | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Calabash departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $102,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Calabash sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 39,471 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,089 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 23.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 14.9 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28467 | 368 |
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Calabash. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Calabash.
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.