In 2025, fire departments serving Durham responded to 56 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 73% of all calls.
Jul peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
278 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 67 | — | |
| 2023 | 61 | -9.0% | |
| 2024 | 63 | +3.3% | |
| 2025 | 56 | -11.1% |
* Well below Durham'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 11 building fires Durham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | 6 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 16.0% |
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 Durham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 44.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 28.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Durham departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Durham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,313 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 314 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 236 | 25.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 64 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 57 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 51 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 42 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 40 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 33 | 38.8 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 Maine cities with population within ±25% of Durham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Durham.
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.