In 2025, fire departments serving Hope Mills responded to 248 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 52% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,018 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 434 | — | |
| 2022 | 545 | +25.6% | |
| 2023 | 416 | -23.7% | |
| 2024 | 375 | -9.9% | |
| 2025 | 248 | -33.9% |
For the 66 building fires Hope Mills departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 502 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 | 85 | 16.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 76 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 57 | 11.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 47 | 9.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 7.6% | |
| 7 | Other | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 96 | 19.1% |
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 Hope Mills mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 230 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 39 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 29 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 27 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 14 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 70 | 13.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hope Mills departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hope Mills sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
42 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 | 13 | |
| 30-39 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 15 | |
| 50-59 | 6 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,075 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 32.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 900 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 17.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 716 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 32.6 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 Hope Mills. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hope Mills.
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.