In 2025, fire departments serving Cornelius responded to 49 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Cornelius's departments reported 49 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 150 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
751 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 177 | — | |
| 2022 | 223 | +26.0% | |
| 2023 | 194 | -13.0% | |
| 2024 | 108 | -44.3% | |
| 2025* | 49 | — |
* Well below Cornelius'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 3 building fires Cornelius departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 178 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 33 | 18.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 26 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 24.7% |
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 Cornelius mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 18.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cornelius departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cornelius sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,876 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 214 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 136 | 40.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 120 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 116 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 116 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 47.7 mi |
Top 2 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 Cornelius. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cornelius.
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.