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2025 County Report

Fires in Alamance County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Alamance County responded to 864 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

119,744 residents FIPS 37001 31 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
864
4,343 across 5 years
Building fires
143
82 wildland
Property loss
$47.2M
$2.6M structure · $44.6M contents
Casualties
0 / 10
0 civ deaths · 8 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

864
Total Incidents
Building fires 143 16.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 116 13.4%
Power line down 107 12.4%
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other 45 5.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 43 5.0%
All other categories 410 47.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Alamance County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 104
Feb 94
Mar 166
Apr 116
May 93
Jun 112
Jul 85
Aug 74
Sep 4
Oct 0
Nov 11
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Alamance County

4,343 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 907
2022 1,183
2023 626
2024 763
2025 864
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 143 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
122
Cause undetermined
20%
47
Intentional / arson
10%
25
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
25
Under investigation
6%
14
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Alamance County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 55% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Mebane Building fires Significant
2 $180,000 Mebane Building fires Significant
3 $175,000 Mebane Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
7 $125,000 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
8 $113,040 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 BURLINGTON Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Graham Building fires Significant
06 How Alamance County compares

Alamance County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

7.22
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Alamance County
7.22
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
1.19
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Alamance County
1.19
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Alamance County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Alamance County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Alamance County

8 departments report from this county.

Burlington Fire Dept
Burlington
FDID 00102 351 incidents 91 paid
SWEPSONVILLE
SWEPSONVILLE
FDID 00112 81 incidents 4 paid 80 vol
Elon FireRescue Dept
Elon
FDID 00105 60 incidents 15 paid 35 vol
E M HOLT VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPT
BURLINGTON
FDID 00103 57 incidents 2 paid 25 vol
Eli Whitney Volunteer Fire Dep
Graham
FDID 00104 0 incidents 3 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NC

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 GREAT LAKES 2023 USFS 32,155
2 Whipping Creek Road 2016 PRI 15,456
3 COLLETT RIDGE 2023 USFS 5,506
4 St Mary's 2008 NPS 4,565
5 Carolina Bay 2009 USFS 2,659
6 Big Ditch 2021 FWS 1,486
7 HANCOCK CREEK 2022 USFS 1,177
8 BUCK MTN 2002 NPS 1,124
9 NCMCR-FY19-RX-1.1.2.b 2019 FWS 1,080
10 VAF220152 2022 NPS 1,079

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.