In 2025, fire departments serving Rockwell responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Rockwell's departments reported 20 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 34 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
171 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $259K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 33 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 60 | — | |
| 2024 | 42 | -30.0% | |
| 2025* | 20 | — |
* Well below Rockwell'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 5 building fires Rockwell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 26.1% |
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 Rockwell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 26.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rockwell departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rockwell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 2,786 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 214 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 200 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 161 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 19.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 115 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 107 | 23.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 101 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 100 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 100 | 22.5 mi |
Top 3 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 Rockwell. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rockwell.
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.