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2025 County Report

Fires in Davidson County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Davidson County responded to 1,340 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

64,429 residents FIPS 37057 41 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
1,340
6,442 across 5 years
Building fires
167
172 wildland
Property loss
$3.3M
$2.7M structure · $657K contents
Casualties
1 / 5
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 3 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 40% of all calls.

1,340
Total Incidents
Building fires 167 12.5%
Unauthorized burning 103 7.7%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 99 7.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 85 6.3%
Power line down 83 6.2%
All other categories 803 59.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Davidson County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 168
Feb 176
Mar 332
Apr 153
May 157
Jun 128
Jul 126
Aug 89
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 6
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Davidson County

6,442 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,142
2022 1,472
2023 1,354
2024 1,134
2025 1,340
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 167 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
43%
131
Cause undetermined
19%
59
Intentional / arson
12%
37
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
32
Under investigation
9%
29
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.2M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Davidson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 45% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 LEXINGTON Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $175,000 WINSTONSALEM Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 LINWOOD Building fires Significant
4 $130,000 Thomasville Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 LEXINGTON Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 WINSTONSALEM Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 WINSTONSALEM Building fires Significant
8 $90,000 Lexington Building fires Significant
9 $90,000 WINSTONSALEM Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 WINSTONSALEM Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Davidson County compares

Davidson County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.8
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Davidson County
20.8
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
2.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Davidson County
2.59
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
15.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Davidson County
15.5
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Davidson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37057.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Davidson County

6 departments report from this county.

Fair Grove Fire Department
Thomasville
FDID 02905 81 incidents
ARCH FIRE AND RESCUE
LEXINGTON
FDID 02901 71 incidents 5 paid 44 vol
West Lexington Volunteer Fire
Lexington
FDID 02923 70 incidents 2 paid 21 vol
Pilot FD Community Center
Thomasville
FDID 02911 68 incidents 8 paid 39 vol
BURNINGTOWN IOTLA FIRERESCUE
FRANKLIN
FDID 05707 21 incidents 30 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.