In 2025, fire departments serving Goldsboro responded to 223 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $123K 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 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,530 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.7M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 324 | — | |
| 2022 | 327 | +0.9% | |
| 2023 | 308 | -5.8% | |
| 2024 | 348 | +13.0% | |
| 2025 | 223 | -35.9% |
For the 33 building fires Goldsboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 740 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 | 151 | 20.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 105 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 85 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 49 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 42 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 39 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Other | 27 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 186 | 25.1% |
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 Goldsboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 309 | 41.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 68 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 53 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 41 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 36 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 27 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 23 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 99 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Goldsboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 66% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $122,570 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $93,520 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $61,190 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Goldsboro sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
32 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,184 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Natural | 1,300 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 650 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 335 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 260 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 251 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 240 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 230 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 230 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 220 | 49.6 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 Goldsboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Goldsboro.
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.