In 2025, fire departments serving Wadesboro responded to 104 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 49% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
603 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $4.9M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 112 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | +24.1% | |
| 2023 | 144 | +3.6% | |
| 2024 | 104 | -27.8% | |
| 2025 | 104 | +0.0% |
For the 18 building fires Wadesboro departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 405 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 | 82 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 62 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 9.9% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 29 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 13 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 77 | 19.0% |
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 Wadesboro mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 214 | 52.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 31 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 22 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 12 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wadesboro departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $96,120 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wadesboro sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,652 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 31.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 38.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 24.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 547 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Equipment and vehicle use | 454 | 31.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Equipment and vehicle use | 450 | 30.7 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 Wadesboro. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.