In 2025, fire departments serving Southport responded to 100 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
544 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 127 | — | |
| 2022 | 129 | +1.6% | |
| 2023 | 81 | -37.2% | |
| 2024 | 107 | +32.1% | |
| 2025 | 100 | -6.5% |
For the 1 building fires Southport departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 162 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 | 53 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 10 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 22.2% |
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 Southport mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 32.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 27 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Southport departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $4,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $800 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Southport sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,745 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 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,727 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,533 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,216 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,126 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 48.2 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 | 28461 | 544 |
Six North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Southport. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Southport.
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.