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2025 County Report

Fires in Nash County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Nash County responded to 851 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

69,715 residents FIPS 37127 43 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
851
6,082 across 5 years
Building fires
132
175 wildland
Property loss
$3.8M
$2.7M structure · $1.1M contents
Casualties
1 / 4
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

851
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 161 18.9%
Building fires 132 15.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 79 9.3%
Grass fire 63 7.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 56 6.6%
All other categories 360 42.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Nash County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 80
Feb 102
Mar 196
Apr 117
May 91
Jun 124
Jul 91
Aug 12
Sep 11
Oct 6
Nov 13
Dec 8
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Nash County

6,082 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,259
2022 1,574
2023 1,359
2024 1,039
2025 851
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 132 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
149
Cause undetermined
18%
54
Intentional / arson
10%
29
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
26
Under investigation
6%
17
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Nash County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 60% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Rocky Mount Building fires Major
2 $250,000 NASHVILLE Building fires Major
3 $150,000 MIDDLESEX Building fires Significant
4 $130,090 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
5 $130,000 SPRING HOPE Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 Rocky Mount Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 NASHVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $86,780 SPRING HOPE Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 ROCKY MOUNT Building fires Significant
06 How Nash County compares

Nash County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

12.21
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Nash County
12.21
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
1.89
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Nash County
1.89
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
14.3
Civilian fire deaths per million
Nash County
14.3
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Nash County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37127.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Nash County

2 departments report from this county.

Castalia VFD Inc
Castalia
FDID 06403 0 incidents 40 vol
Rocky MountWilson Airport FR
Elm City
FDID 06418 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.