In 2025, fire departments serving Leland responded to 269 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,504 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 286 | — | |
| 2022 | 301 | +5.2% | |
| 2023 | 247 | -17.9% | |
| 2024 | 401 | +62.3% | |
| 2025 | 269 | -32.9% |
For the 36 building fires Leland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 556 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 | 126 | 22.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 70 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 54 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 46 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 7.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 19 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 118 | 21.2% |
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 Leland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 268 | 48.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 47 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 37 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 26 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 18 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 82 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Leland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $65,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,500 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Leland 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 55,335 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 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 1,300 | 37.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,216 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,126 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 17.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 944 | 39.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Leland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Leland.
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.