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2025 County Report

Fires in Madison County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Madison County responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $15K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

3,978 residents FIPS 37115 45 cities · 8 fire depts
Total incidents
143
361 across 5 years
Building fires
14
30 wildland
Property loss
$21K
$16K structure · $5K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Hazardous condition, other lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

143
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 24 16.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 19 13.3%
Building fires 14 9.8%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 12 8.4%
Authorized controlled burning 11 7.7%
All other categories 63 44.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Madison County?

Feb peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 15
Feb 27
Mar 23
Apr 17
May 11
Jun 8
Jul 13
Aug 3
Sep 6
Oct 4
Nov 6
Dec 10
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Madison County

361 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 112
2022 54
2023 44
2024 8
2025 143
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 14 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
51%
26
Cause undetermined
12%
6
Intentional / arson
14%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
10%
5
Under investigation
12%
6
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $16K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $15,000 MARS HILL Building fires Significant
2 $1,000 MARSHALL Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Madison County compares

Madison County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

35.95
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Madison County
35.95
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
3.52
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Madison County
3.52
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Madison County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Madison County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37115.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Madison County

8 departments report from this county.

EBBS CHAPEL FIRE RESCUE
MARS HILL
FDID 05807 69 incidents 1 paid 19 vol
WALNUT
MARSHALL
FDID 05809 19 incidents
HSVFD
HOT SPRINGS
FDID 05801 0 incidents 1 vol
MARS HILL FIRE DEPARTMENT
MARS HILL
FDID 05803 0 incidents 1 paid 28 vol
Spring Creek Volunteer Fire De
Hot Springs
FDID 05804 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.