In 2025, fire departments serving Gastonia responded to 811 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $315K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,807 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $26.4M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 945 | — | |
| 2022 | 974 | +3.1% | |
| 2023 | 946 | -2.9% | |
| 2024 | 1,131 | +19.6% | |
| 2025 | 811 | -28.3% |
For the 92 building fires Gastonia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,712 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 | 340 | 19.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 278 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 199 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 179 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 96 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 61 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 59 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 41 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 39 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 38 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 382 | 22.3% |
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 Gastonia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 919 | 53.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 177 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 89 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 65 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 61 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 54 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 54 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 36 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 33 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 31 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 193 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gastonia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 54% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $315,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $292,200 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $190,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $155,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gastonia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,616 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 147 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 136 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 130 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 36.8 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 Gastonia. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gastonia.
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.