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2025 County Report

Fires in Edgecombe County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Edgecombe County responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $387K property loss.

14,820 residents FIPS 37065 33 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
28
437 across 5 years
Building fires
4
9 wildland
Property loss
$667K
$392K structure · $276K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.

28
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 21.4%
Building fires 4 14.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 7.1%
Grass fire 2 7.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 2 7.1%
All other categories 12 42.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Edgecombe County?

Feb peaks. May dips.

Jan 4
Feb 6
Mar 6
Apr 3
May 0
Jun 3
Jul 4
Aug 1
Sep 1
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Edgecombe County

437 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 97
2022 124
2023 126
2024 62
2025 28
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
5
Cause undetermined
27%
3
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
1
Under investigation
9%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
1
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $392K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Edgecombe County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $386,530 Battleboro Building fires Major
2 $5,000 Battleboro Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire Significant
06 How Edgecombe County compares

Edgecombe County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

1.89
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Edgecombe County
1.89
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
0.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Edgecombe County
0.27
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Edgecombe County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Edgecombe County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Edgecombe County

7 departments report from this county.

WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH FIRE DEPT
WRIGHTSVILLE BEACH
FDID 06511 20 incidents 11 paid
Conetoe VFD
Conetoe
FDID 03301 0 incidents 26 vol
Princeville VFD
PRINCEVILLE
FDID 03305 0 incidents 28 vol
West Edgecombe VFD
ROCKY MOUNT
FDID 03310 0 incidents 47 vol
Heartsease VFD
—
FDID 03311 0 incidents
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.