In 2025, fire departments serving Wake Forest responded to 223 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,770 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $5.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 286 | — | |
| 2022 | 377 | +31.8% | |
| 2023 | 406 | +7.7% | |
| 2024 | 478 | +17.7% | |
| 2025 | 223 | -53.3% |
For the 21 building fires Wake Forest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 505 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 | 142 | 28.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 64 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 44 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 38 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 26 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 21 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 9 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 97 | 19.2% |
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 Wake Forest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 238 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 33 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 27 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 24 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 13 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 12 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 84 | 16.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wake Forest departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 81% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,744 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,980 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $32,556 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $31,999 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $31,990 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $22,849 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wake Forest sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,488 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,030 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,012 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 13.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 456 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 339 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 289 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 14.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 250 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 240 | 36.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Wake Forest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wake Forest.
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.