In 2025, fire departments serving Graham responded to 176 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
857 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 119 | — | |
| 2022 | 196 | +64.7% | |
| 2023 | 183 | -6.6% | |
| 2024 | 183 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 176 | -3.8% |
For the 35 building fires Graham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 249 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 38 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 33 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 27 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 15 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 16.9% |
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 Graham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 131 | 52.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 6.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Graham departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Graham sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,648 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 38.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 9.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 216 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 214 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 180 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 161 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 137 | 29.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Graham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Graham.
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.