In 2025, fire departments serving Kitty Hawk responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
314 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70 | — | |
| 2022 | 79 | +12.9% | |
| 2023 | 58 | -26.6% | |
| 2024 | 47 | -19.0% | |
| 2025 | 60 | +27.7% |
For the 4 building fires Kitty Hawk departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 99 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 | 30 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 26.3% |
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 Kitty Hawk mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 9 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 18.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kitty Hawk departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $300 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $300 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kitty Hawk sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 117,743 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 45,294 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 41,060 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15,449 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Firearms and explosives use | 2,300 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,100 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Firearms and explosives use | 1,552 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 1,200 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 886 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 760 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 681 | 26.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Kitty Hawk. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kitty Hawk.
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.