In 2025, fire departments serving Rose Hill responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
391 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $583K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 84 | — | |
| 2022 | 99 | +17.9% | |
| 2023 | 85 | -14.1% | |
| 2024 | 48 | -43.5% | |
| 2025 | 75 | +56.2% |
For the 21 building fires Rose Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 226 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 | 44 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 42 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 12.8% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 21 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 39 | 17.3% |
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 Rose Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rose Hill departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rose Hill 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 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 59,739 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 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 1,300 | 10.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,216 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,126 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 944 | 35.4 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 Rose Hill. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rose Hill.
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.