In 2025, fire departments serving Stokesdale responded to 72 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $115K 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 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
226 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $221K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | +9.2% | |
| 2023* | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025 | 72 | — |
* Well below Stokesdale'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 4 building fires Stokesdale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 7 | 35.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.0% |
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 Stokesdale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Stokesdale departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $115,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $300 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Stokesdale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,181 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 3,696 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 675 | 28.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 363 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 350 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 230 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 214 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 175 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 166 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 161 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 49.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Stokesdale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Stokesdale.
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.