In 2025, fire departments serving Whiteville responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,203 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 215 | — | |
| 2022 | 277 | +28.8% | |
| 2023 | 231 | -16.6% | |
| 2024 | 276 | +19.5% | |
| 2025 | 204 | -26.1% |
For the 25 building fires Whiteville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 574 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 | 178 | 31.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 104 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 89 | 15.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 35 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 78 | 13.6% |
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 Whiteville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 314 | 54.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 75 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 30 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 8.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Whiteville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Whiteville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 46,317 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 5,438 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,084 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,164 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,154 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 41.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 900 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 46.1 mi |
Top 7 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 Whiteville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Whiteville.
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.