In 2025, fire departments serving Wilson responded to 405 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $125K 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 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,488 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $7.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 393 | — | |
| 2022 | 611 | +55.5% | |
| 2023 | 551 | -9.8% | |
| 2024 | 528 | -4.2% | |
| 2025 | 405 | -23.3% |
For the 56 building fires Wilson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,168 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 | 248 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 160 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 144 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 142 | 12.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 46 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 35 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Other | 30 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 30 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 24 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 284 | 24.3% |
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 Wilson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 632 | 54.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 117 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 83 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 56 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 45 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 40 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 28 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 22 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 100 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wilson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 55% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wilson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
30 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 | 3 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 6 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,647 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 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,012 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,778 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,521 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 274 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Smoking | 274 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 257 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 251 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 240 | 31.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Wilson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wilson.
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.