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2025 County Report

Fires in Currituck County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Currituck County responded to 157 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

7,998 residents FIPS 37053 26 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
157
1,943 across 5 years
Building fires
28
27 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$1.1M structure · $426K 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 49% of all calls.

157
Total Incidents
Building fires 28 17.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 18 11.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 11 7.0%
Grass fire 10 6.4%
Authorized controlled burning 10 6.4%
All other categories 80 51.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Currituck County?

Jun peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 12
Feb 16
Mar 24
Apr 25
May 23
Jun 27
Jul 18
Aug 9
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 2
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Currituck County

1,943 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 443
2022 479
2023 483
2024 381
2025 157
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 28 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
14
Cause undetermined
27%
9
Intentional / arson
6%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
3
Under investigation
9%
3
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Currituck County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 99% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Corolla Building fires Major
2 $250,000 powells point Building fires Major
3 $165,000 GRANDY Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $100,000 POWELLS POINT Building fires Significant
5 $40,000 COROLLA Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $20,000 GRANDY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $20,000 COROLLA Building fires Significant
8 $10,000 Corolla Building fires Significant
9 $6,500 POWELLS POINT Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $5,000 COROLLA Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Currituck County compares

Currituck County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

19.63
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Currituck County
19.63
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
3.5
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Currituck County
3.5
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Currituck County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Currituck County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37053.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Currituck County

5 departments report from this county.

Moyock Fire Department
MOYOCK
FDID 02701 8 incidents 111 paid 11 vol
Knotts Island VFD
Knotts Island
FDID 02706 0 incidents 40 vol
TRAMWAY FIRE DEPT INC
SANFORD
FDID 05305 0 incidents 31 vol
CAROLINA TRACE FIRE DEPT
SANFORD
FDID 05307 0 incidents 20 vol
LEMON SPRINGS FIRE DEPT
LEMON SPRINGS
FDID 05308 0 incidents 25 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.