In 2025, fire departments serving Whispering Pines responded to 30 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
134 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $201K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 40 | — | |
| 2023 | 21 | -47.5% | |
| 2024 | 30 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +0.0% |
* Well below Whispering Pines'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 8 building fires Whispering Pines departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 10 | 35.7% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 3.6% |
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 Whispering Pines mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 10.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whispering Pines departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whispering Pines sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,946 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 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 19.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 750 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 20.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 550 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 547 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Equipment and vehicle use | 500 | 28.6 mi |
Top 4 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 Whispering Pines. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whispering Pines.
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.