Home› Counties› NC› Alexander County
2025 County Report

Fires in Alexander County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Alexander County responded to 205 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

7,699 residents FIPS 37003 13 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
205
1,173 across 5 years
Building fires
49
42 wildland
Property loss
$1.3M
$1.1M structure · $219K contents
Casualties
0 / 2
0 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.

205
Total Incidents
Building fires 49 23.9%
Attempted burning, illegal action, other 29 14.1%
Power line down 20 9.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 19 9.3%
Grass fire 18 8.8%
All other categories 70 34.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Alexander County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 21
Feb 27
Mar 53
Apr 17
May 21
Jun 15
Jul 12
Aug 3
Sep 2
Oct 9
Nov 9
Dec 16
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Alexander County

1,173 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 178
2022 268
2023 278
2024 244
2025 205
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 49 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
37
Cause undetermined
15%
10
Intentional / arson
12%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
2
Under investigation
9%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Alexander County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 92% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Stony Point Building fires Major
2 $200,000 ALEXANDER Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 Hiddenite Building fires Significant
4 $139,832 Taylorsville Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Hiddenite Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Stony Point Building fires Significant
7 $40,348 Taylorsville Building fires Significant
8 $40,000 Stony Point Building fires Significant
9 $35,000 GWALTNEYS Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $30,000 Taylorsville Building fires Significant
06 How Alexander County compares

Alexander County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

26.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Alexander County
26.63
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
6.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Alexander County
6.36
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Alexander County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Alexander County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Alexander County

1 departments report from this county.

Parkwood Station 1
Durham
FDID 03205 0 incidents 16 paid 80 vol
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.