In 2025, fire departments serving Charlotte responded to 304 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K 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 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,017 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 141 | — | |
| 2022 | 184 | +30.5% | |
| 2023 | 185 | +0.5% | |
| 2024 | 203 | +9.7% | |
| 2025 | 304 | +49.8% |
For the 38 building fires Charlotte departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 217 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 | 40 | 18.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 31 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 31.8% |
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 Charlotte mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 40 | 18.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 16.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 19 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 14 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 5.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 40 | 18.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Charlotte departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $137,550 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $65,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Charlotte sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,002 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 191 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 150 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 143 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 142 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 119 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 105 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 100 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 98 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 96 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 80 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 70 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 61 | 43.0 mi |
Top 8 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Michigan cities with population within ±25% of Charlotte. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Charlotte.
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.