In 2025, fire departments serving Vass responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K 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 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
386 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 31 | — | |
| 2022 | 132 | — | |
| 2023 | 76 | -42.4% | |
| 2024 | 97 | +27.6% | |
| 2025 | 50 | -48.5% |
* Well below Vass'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 7 building fires Vass departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 124 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 | 37 | 29.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 11 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 12.1% |
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 Vass mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 53 | 42.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 16.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vass departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $300 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vass sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,400 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 22.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 547 | 24.2 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 Vass. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vass.
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.