In 2025, fire departments serving Morrisville responded to 116 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
725 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 131 | — | |
| 2022 | 151 | +15.3% | |
| 2023 | 146 | -3.3% | |
| 2024 | 181 | +24.0% | |
| 2025 | 116 | -35.9% |
For the 12 building fires Morrisville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 174 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 20.1% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 31 | 17.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 18 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 17 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 19.0% |
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 Morrisville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 68 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Morrisville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Aircraft fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $7,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Morrisville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,932 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,030 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 500 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 400 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 330 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 275 | 43.9 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 Morrisville. 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.