In 2025, fire departments serving Emerald Isle responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Emerald Isle's departments reported 24 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 64 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
321 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $766K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 71 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | -18.3% | |
| 2023 | 80 | +37.9% | |
| 2024 | 88 | +10.0% | |
| 2025* | 24 | — |
* Well below Emerald Isle'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 1 building fires Emerald Isle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 66 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 | Outside area, other | 22 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 5 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 15.2% |
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 Emerald Isle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 9.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Emerald Isle departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20 | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Emerald Isle sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 110,700 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 31,140 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,600 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 21,331 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,265 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,400 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 2,660 | 7.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 2,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,360 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,327 | 7.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 28594 | 321 |
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Emerald Isle. 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.