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2025 County Report

Fires in Cabarrus County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Cabarrus County responded to 914 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

184,034 residents FIPS 37025 30 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
914
5,352 across 5 years
Building fires
78
134 wildland
Property loss
$5.1M
$4.2M structure · $938K contents
Casualties
0 / 5
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 41% of all calls.

914
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 81 8.9%
Building fires 78 8.5%
Hazardous condition, other 74 8.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 70 7.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 67 7.3%
All other categories 544 59.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cabarrus County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 88
Feb 100
Mar 241
Apr 144
May 78
Jun 135
Jul 33
Aug 76
Sep 18
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cabarrus County

5,352 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,397
2022 972
2023 1,078
2024 991
2025 914
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 78 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
96
Cause undetermined
18%
35
Intentional / arson
6%
11
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
29
Under investigation
4%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cabarrus County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 79% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,970,000 Harrisburg Building fires Major
2 $400,000 Mount Pleasant Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $200,000 KANNAPOLIS Building fires Significant
4 $150,000 Midland Building fires Significant
5 $130,000 KANNAPOLIS Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 CONCORD Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 CONCORD Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $75,000 Midland Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Midland Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
10 $75,000 Midland Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Cabarrus County compares

Cabarrus County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.97
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cabarrus County
4.97
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
0.42
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cabarrus County
0.42
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cabarrus County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cabarrus County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cabarrus County

12 departments report from this county.

Fire Station 3
Concord
FDID 01303 242 incidents 200 paid
Harrisburg Fire Station 2
Harrisburg
FDID 01306 80 incidents 27 vol
Cabarrus County Government
Concord
FDID 01300 72 incidents 27 vol
Midland Fire Department
Midland
FDID 01312 72 incidents 27 vol
Mt Mitchell Fire Department
Kannapolis
FDID 01310 38 incidents 45 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.