In 2025, fire departments serving Conover responded to 122 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
822 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 185 | — | |
| 2022 | 199 | +7.6% | |
| 2023 | 174 | -12.6% | |
| 2024 | 142 | -18.4% | |
| 2025 | 122 | -14.1% |
For the 22 building fires Conover departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 231 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 | 37 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 29 | 12.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 14 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 60 | 26.0% |
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 Conover mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 90 | 39.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 15 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 12.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Conover departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $23,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Conover sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 48,952 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Other causes | 2,005 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,760 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,450 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,268 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 820 | 41.9 mi |
Top 5 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 Conover. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.