In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin responded to 380 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $271K 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 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,769 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 312 | — | |
| 2022 | 378 | +21.2% | |
| 2023 | 337 | -10.8% | |
| 2024 | 362 | +7.4% | |
| 2025 | 380 | +5.0% |
For the 78 building fires Franklin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 616 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 | 168 | 27.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 94 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 59 | 9.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 52 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 122 | 19.8% |
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 Franklin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 287 | 46.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 51 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 46 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 40 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 22 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 84 | 13.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Franklin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $271,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $181,180 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $38,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Franklin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 5 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 120,345 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,725 | 19.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 17,140 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 9,036 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,422 | 9.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,307 | 25.2 mi |
Top 4 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 Franklin. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Franklin.
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.