In 2025, fire departments serving Canton responded to 182 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $280K 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. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,146 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 285 | — | |
| 2022 | 233 | -18.2% | |
| 2023 | 243 | +4.3% | |
| 2024 | 203 | -16.5% | |
| 2025 | 182 | -10.3% |
For the 49 building fires Canton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 313 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 | 69 | 22.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 66 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Other | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 22.0% |
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 Canton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 157 | 50.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 19 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 15 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Match | 10 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 10.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Canton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $280,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $29,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canton 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 98,085 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 17,140 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,422 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 28.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Canton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Canton.
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.