In 2025, fire departments serving Clarkton responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
162 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $120K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | +26.7% | |
| 2023* | 16 | — | |
| 2024 | 24 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | -16.7% |
* Well below Clarkton's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Clarkton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 45 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 | Undetermined | 18 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 7 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.7% |
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 Clarkton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 62.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clarkton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 45,400 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 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 1,300 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 900 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 14.2 mi |
Top 3 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 Clarkton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clarkton.
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.