In 2025, fire departments serving Pembroke responded to 124 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
858 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $105K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 240 | — | |
| 2022 | 270 | +12.5% | |
| 2023* | 77 | — | |
| 2024 | 147 | — | |
| 2025 | 124 | -15.6% |
* Well below Pembroke'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 30 building fires Pembroke departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 550 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 | Undetermined | 257 | 46.7% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 130 | 23.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 31 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Other | 21 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Structural area, other | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 7 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 8.4% |
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 Pembroke mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 338 | 61.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 58 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 40 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 15 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 6.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pembroke sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,190 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 20.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 39.2 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 716 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 27.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Pembroke. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pembroke.
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.