Home› Counties› NC› Ashe County
2025 County Report

Fires in Ashe County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Ashe County responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

3,616 residents FIPS 37009 48 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
18
113 across 5 years
Building fires
6
3 wildland
Property loss
$10K
$10K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 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 83% of all calls.

18
Total Incidents
Building fires 6 33.3%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 3 16.7%
Authorized controlled burning 3 16.7%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 2 11.1%
Grass fire 1 5.6%
All other categories 3 16.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ashe County?

Mar peaks. May dips.

Jan 3
Feb 1
Mar 5
Apr 4
May 0
Jun 1
Jul 1
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ashe County

113 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 34
2022 22
2023 35
2024 4
2025 18
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 6 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
100%
2
05 The biggest fires

1 fires · $10K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Ashe County during 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 Zionvlle Building fires Significant
06 How Ashe County compares

Ashe County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ashe County
4.98
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
1.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ashe County
1.66
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ashe County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ashe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37009.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ashe County

1 departments report from this county.

Nahunta
Pikeville
FDID 09619 0 incidents 35 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.