Home› Counties› NC› Franklin County
2025 County Report

Fires in Franklin County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin County responded to 349 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $275K property loss.

12,094 residents FIPS 37069 35 cities · 10 fire depts
Total incidents
349
1,871 across 5 years
Building fires
62
62 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$1.2M structure · $221K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.

349
Total Incidents
Building fires 62 17.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 33 9.5%
Authorized controlled burning 29 8.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 24 6.9%
Power line down 20 5.7%
All other categories 181 51.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Franklin County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 49
Feb 45
Mar 96
Apr 40
May 25
Jun 28
Jul 37
Aug 13
Sep 16
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Franklin County

1,871 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 383
2022 460
2023 281
2024 398
2025 349
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 62 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
55%
59
Cause undetermined
21%
23
Intentional / arson
9%
10
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
2
Under investigation
5%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Franklin County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 85% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $275,000 Louisburg Building fires Major
2 $200,000 LOUISBURG Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Louisburg Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 YOUNGSVILLE Building fires Significant
5 $80,000 LOUISBURG Building fires Significant
6 $80,000 FRANKLINTON Building fires Significant
7 $70,000 YOUNGSVILLE Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
8 $50,000 BUNN Building fires Significant
9 $30,000 FRANKLINTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $20,000 Louisburg Building fires Significant
06 How Franklin County compares

Franklin County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

28.86
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
28.86
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
5.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
5.13
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
82.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Franklin County
82.7
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Franklin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37069.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Franklin County

10 departments report from this county.

Bunn Fire Station 1
BUNN
FDID 03501 119 incidents 40 vol
Louisburg Fire Department
Louisburg
FDID 03507 68 incidents 5 paid 35 vol
White Level Rural Fire Dept
Louisburg
FDID 03504 0 incidents 36 vol
FRANKLINTON STATION 1
FRANKLINTON
FDID 03505 0 incidents 33 vol
SOUTHEAST PAMLICO VFD
ORIENTAL
FDID 06902 0 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.