In 2025, fire departments serving Spring Hope responded to 79 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $130K 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
474 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 106 | — | |
| 2022 | 119 | +12.3% | |
| 2023 | 87 | -26.9% | |
| 2024 | 83 | -4.6% | |
| 2025 | 79 | -4.8% |
For the 35 building fires Spring Hope departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 181 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 | 45 | 24.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 37 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 16 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 15.5% |
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 Spring Hope mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 91 | 50.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 9 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spring Hope departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $86,780 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $6,875 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spring Hope sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,669 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,030 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,012 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,521 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Smoking | 274 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 22.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 240 | 37.2 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 Spring Hope. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Spring Hope.
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.