In 2025, fire departments serving Durham responded to 1,105 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
9,087 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $36.0M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2,059 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,387 | -32.6% | |
| 2023 | 2,324 | +67.6% | |
| 2024 | 2,212 | -4.8% | |
| 2025 | 1,105 | -50.0% |
For the 81 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 2,323 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 | 449 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 345 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 301 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 180 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 156 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 104 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 95 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 74 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 56 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 51 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 512 | 22.0% |
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 | 1,385 | 59.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 131 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 125 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 115 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 108 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 86 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 49 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 42 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 39 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 30 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 213 | 9.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Durham departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $875,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $250,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Durham sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
40 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 16 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,234 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,030 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 28.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 267 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 34.1 mi |
Top 10 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 Durham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 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.