In 2025, fire departments serving Robbinsville responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $64K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 31 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Robbinsville'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 2 building fires Robbinsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 40 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 | 10 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 7.5% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 10.0% |
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 Robbinsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 57.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Robbinsville departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $64,160 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $64,160 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Robbinsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 109,896 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,725 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 17,140 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,641 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 9,036 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,580 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,422 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,231 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,307 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,200 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,048 | 44.7 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 | 28771 | 67 |
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Robbinsville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Robbinsville.
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.