In 2025, fire departments serving Winterville responded to 163 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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 68% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
870 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 200 | — | |
| 2022 | 234 | +17.0% | |
| 2023 | 133 | -43.2% | |
| 2024 | 140 | +5.3% | |
| 2025 | 163 | +16.4% |
For the 55 building fires Winterville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 203 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 | 33 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 23 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 18 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 42 | 20.7% |
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 Winterville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 80 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 20 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 28 | 13.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Winterville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Winterville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 52,035 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,600 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 21,331 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 650 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 330 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 300 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 300 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Arson/incendiarism | 288 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 288 | 39.0 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 Winterville. 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.