In 2025, fire departments serving Hillsborough responded to 307 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $145K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,495 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 269 | — | |
| 2022 | 286 | +6.3% | |
| 2023 | 381 | +33.2% | |
| 2024 | 252 | -33.9% | |
| 2025 | 307 | +21.8% |
For the 27 building fires Hillsborough departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 307 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 | 55 | 17.9% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 54 | 17.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 13.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 30 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 14 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 17.9% |
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 Hillsborough mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 108 | 35.2% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 36 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Match | 10 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 9 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 16.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hillsborough departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $145,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $29,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hillsborough sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,749 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 32.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 216 | 34.9 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 Hillsborough. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.