In 2025, fire departments serving Nags Head responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $80K 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 63% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
441 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 87 | — | |
| 2022 | 88 | +1.1% | |
| 2023 | 79 | -10.2% | |
| 2024 | 96 | +21.5% | |
| 2025 | 91 | -5.2% |
For the 14 building fires Nags Head departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 20.9% |
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 Nags Head mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 49 | 33.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 23 | 15.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nags Head departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nags Head sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 115,499 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 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 41,060 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15,449 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Firearms and explosives use | 2,300 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Firearms and explosives use | 1,552 | 12.0 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 1,200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 900 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 886 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 760 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 681 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 665 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 581 | 21.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 27959 | 441 |
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Nags Head. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nags Head.
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.