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2025 County Report

Fires in Northampton County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Northampton County responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss.

5,557 residents FIPS 37131 31 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
22
161 across 5 years
Building fires
2
5 wildland
Property loss
$478K
$440K structure · $38K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

22
Total Incidents
Passenger vehicle fire 4 18.2%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 18.2%
Building fires 2 9.1%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 2 9.1%
Aircraft standby 2 9.1%
All other categories 8 36.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Northampton County?

May peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 1
Mar 5
Apr 3
May 8
Jun 2
Jul 3
Aug 0
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Northampton County

161 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 25
2022 1
2023 57
2024 56
2025 22
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
20%
3
Cause undetermined
27%
4
Intentional / arson
7%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
40%
6
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
6%
1
05 The biggest fires

6 fires · $440K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Northampton County during 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 Garysburg Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $100,000 Garysburg Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 Garysburg Passenger vehicle fire Significant
4 $25,350 Garysburg Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $10,000 Gaston Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $5,000 Garysburg Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
06 How Northampton County compares

Northampton County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

3.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Northampton County
3.96
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
0.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Northampton County
0.36
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Northampton County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Northampton County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37131.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Northampton County

2 departments report from this county.

Gaston Fire Dept
Gaston
FDID 06602 24 incidents 31 vol
Seaboard VFD
SEABOARD
FDID 06605 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.