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2025 County Report

Fires in Brevard County, FL

In 2025, fire departments serving Brevard County responded to 1,290 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

523,990 residents FIPS 12009 67 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
1,290
11,192 across 5 years
Building fires
93
212 wildland
Property loss
$20.2M
$17.0M structure · $3.2M contents
Casualties
2 / 10
2 civ deaths · 6 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.

1,290
Total Incidents
Power line down 143 11.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 118 9.1%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 109 8.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 102 7.9%
Building fires 93 7.2%
All other categories 725 56.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Brevard County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 173
Feb 139
Mar 230
Apr 202
May 98
Jun 58
Jul 70
Aug 93
Sep 64
Oct 60
Nov 49
Dec 54
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Brevard County

11,192 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,808
2022 2,654
2023 2,140
2024 2,300
2025 1,290
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 93 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
149
Cause undetermined
13%
33
Intentional / arson
7%
17
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
27
Under investigation
9%
23
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $14.4M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Brevard County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 84% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000,000 Merritt Island Water vehicle fire Catastrophic
2 $1,000,000 Port Canaveral Water vehicle fire Major
3 $800,000 Cocoa Building fires Major
4 $700,000 Cocoa Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
5 $500,000 Melbourne Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
6 $409,000 Indian Harbour Beach Building fires Major
7 $331,000 Melbourne Building fires Major
8 $290,000 Merritt Island Building fires Major
9 $182,736 Cocoa Building fires Significant
10 $180,000 COCOA BEACH Building fires Significant
06 How Brevard County compares

Brevard County vs FL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

2.46
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Brevard County
2.46
FL avg
5.32
US avg
7.15
0.18
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Brevard County
0.18
FL avg
0.42
US avg
0.82
3.8
Civilian fire deaths per million
Brevard County
3.8
FL avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Brevard County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 12009.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Brevard County

12 departments report from this county.

CITY OF COCOA FIRE DEPT
Cocoa
FDID 19052 180 incidents
COCOA BEACH FIRE DEPT
Cocoa Beach
FDID 19062 78 incidents 37 paid
CANAVERAL FIRE RESCUE
Cape Canaveral
FDID 19011 68 incidents 15 paid 45 vol
SATELLITE BEACH FIRE DEPT
Satellite Beach
FDID 19122 39 incidents 11 paid 15 vol
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FIRE RESCUE
Kennedy Space Center
FDID 19022 28 incidents 67 paid
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in FL

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 DOF Prarie Fire 2011 NPS 68,028
2 CP3 RX 2021 NPS 66,918
3 Buzzard 2018 NPS 62,454
4 Tarpon (BIL) 2023 NPS 52,542
5 CP-2 Exotics (BIL) 2023 NPS 49,703
6 EVER CP3 Exotics Rx 2024 NPS 47,986
7 ROG-South (BIL) 2023 NPS 47,619
8 ROG-South/Southern Glades 2020 NPS 43,751
9 BICY Kirby Rx FY24 2024 NPS 39,765
10 Mustang Corner 2008 NPS 39,423

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.