In 2025, fire departments serving Pineville responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 61% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
496 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 113 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | -25.7% | |
| 2023 | 111 | +32.1% | |
| 2024 | 90 | -18.9% | |
| 2025 | 98 | +8.9% |
For the 20 building fires Pineville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 155 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 | 32 | 20.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 10 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 25.2% |
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 Pineville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 77 | 49.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 17 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Match | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pineville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $18,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pineville sits above 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,043 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 179 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 160 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 141 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 26.6 mi |
Top 5 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 Pineville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pineville.
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.