In 2025, fire departments serving Marion responded to 428 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,197 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 950 | — | |
| 2022 | 795 | -16.3% | |
| 2023 | 555 | -30.2% | |
| 2024 | 469 | -15.5% | |
| 2025 | 428 | -8.7% |
For the 41 building fires Marion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 542 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 | 107 | 19.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 81 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 62 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 46 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 35 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 30 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 20 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 104 | 19.2% |
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 Marion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 324 | 59.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 30 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated heat from another fire | 20 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Match | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 62 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marion departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,880 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $6,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marion sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 72,558 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 12.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,050 | 36.6 mi |
Top 10 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 Marion. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Marion.
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.