In 2025, fire departments serving Kings Mountain responded to 278 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,787 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 225 | — | |
| 2022 | 404 | +79.6% | |
| 2023 | 459 | +13.6% | |
| 2024 | 421 | -8.3% | |
| 2025 | 278 | -34.0% |
For the 34 building fires Kings Mountain departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 577 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 | 138 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 59 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 55 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 49 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 38 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 32 | 5.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 22 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 118 | 20.5% |
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 Kings Mountain mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 282 | 48.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 41 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 35 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 29 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 22 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 67 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kings Mountain departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kings Mountain sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,758 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 200 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 147 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 136 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 130 | 41.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Kings Mountain. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kings Mountain.
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.