In 2025, fire departments serving Flat Rock responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
458 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $169K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 122 | — | |
| 2022 | 113 | -7.4% | |
| 2023 | 108 | -4.4% | |
| 2024* | 41 | — | |
| 2025 | 74 | — |
* Well below Flat Rock'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 10 building fires Flat Rock departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 99 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 | 26 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 12 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 19 | 19.2% |
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 Flat Rock mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 42 | 42.4% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Flat Rock departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Flat Rock sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 53,786 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,307 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,760 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,268 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,050 | 44.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Flat Rock. 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.