In 2025, fire departments serving Kure Beach responded to 11 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
76 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 26 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | +15.4% | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 11 | — |
* Well below Kure Beach's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires Kure Beach departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Other | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Kure Beach mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kure Beach sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,229 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 31,140 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,216 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,126 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 24.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 944 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 900 | 49.7 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 Kure Beach. 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.