In 2025, fire departments serving Greenville responded to 574 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,235 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $14.0M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 671 | — | |
| 2022 | 642 | -4.3% | |
| 2023 | 715 | +11.4% | |
| 2024 | 633 | -11.5% | |
| 2025 | 574 | -9.3% |
For the 108 building fires Greenville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,200 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 203 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 171 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 116 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 91 | 7.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 85 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 82 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 51 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 33 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 33 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 26 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 309 | 25.8% |
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 Greenville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 360 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 169 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 96 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 90 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 86 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 48 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 41 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 39 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 39 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 36 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 196 | 16.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Greenville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 67% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500,000 | Outside equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $55,000 | 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. Greenville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
44 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 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,759 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 21,331 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,521 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 650 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 288 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Smoking | 274 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 251 | 6.3 mi |
Top 10 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 Greenville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Greenville.
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.