In 2025, fire departments serving Statesville responded to 661 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,952 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $19.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 816 | — | |
| 2022 | 835 | +2.3% | |
| 2023 | 921 | +10.3% | |
| 2024 | 719 | -21.9% | |
| 2025 | 661 | -8.1% |
For the 88 building fires Statesville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,329 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 | 214 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 174 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 154 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 145 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 128 | 9.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 73 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 58 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Other | 31 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 28 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 28 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 296 | 22.3% |
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 Statesville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 569 | 42.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 127 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 98 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 81 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 73 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 54 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 43 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 41 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 41 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 26 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 176 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Statesville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 56% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $145,650 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Statesville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
43 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,069 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,450 | 46.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 484 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 363 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 310 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 266 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 262 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 260 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 38.0 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 Statesville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Statesville.
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.