In 2025, fire departments serving Kenly responded to 99 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 55% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
670 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 144 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +20.1% | |
| 2023 | 121 | -30.1% | |
| 2024 | 133 | +9.9% | |
| 2025 | 99 | -25.6% |
For the 17 building fires Kenly departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 244 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 | 40 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 37 | 15.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 35 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 10 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 47 | 19.3% |
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 Kenly mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 39.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 20 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 20 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 9 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 13.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kenly departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $65,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kenly 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,602 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 | 2,012 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 43.0 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Smoking | 274 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 260 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 40.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Kenly. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kenly.
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.