In 2025, fire departments serving Swannanoa responded to 189 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
822 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 120 | — | |
| 2022 | 194 | +61.7% | |
| 2023 | 233 | +20.1% | |
| 2024* | 86 | — | |
| 2025 | 189 | — |
* Well below Swannanoa'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 19 building fires Swannanoa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 157 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 | 42 | 26.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 25 | 15.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 19.1% |
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 Swannanoa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 53.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Match | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Swannanoa departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $7,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Swannanoa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 90,490 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,120 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,964 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,943 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,738 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,579 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,436 | 47.4 mi |
Top 6 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 Swannanoa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Swannanoa.
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.