In 2025, fire departments serving Rocky Point responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $15K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
630 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $61K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 144 | — | |
| 2022 | 144 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 161 | +11.8% | |
| 2024* | 38 | — | |
| 2025 | 143 | — |
* Well below Rocky Point'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 18 building fires Rocky Point departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 208 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 | 51 | 24.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 30 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 13.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 23 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 12.5% |
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 Rocky Point mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 100 | 48.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 33 | 15.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rocky Point departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rocky Point sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 55,480 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 31,140 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 16.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 1,300 | 19.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,216 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,126 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 10.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 944 | 24.5 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 Rocky Point. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rocky Point.
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.