In 2025, fire departments serving Orange County responded to 667 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.2M property loss.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips.
4,930 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,046 | |
| 2022 | 998 | |
| 2023 | 1,276 | |
| 2024 | 943 | |
| 2025 | 667 |
For the 65 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Orange County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 94% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,217,300 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $489,900 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $400,000 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $350,000 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $145,000 | HILLSBOROUGH | Building fires | Significant |
| 7 | $100,000 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Significant |
| 8 | $100,000 | HILLSBOROUGH | Building fires | Significant |
| 9 | $72,400 | CHAPEL HILL | Building fires | Significant |
| 10 | $50,000 | CARRBORO | Fire, other | Significant |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 37135.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Chapel Hill | 58,919 | View › |
| Carrboro | 21,242 | View › |
| Hillsborough | 9,534 | View › |
| Efland | 825 | View › |
| Dodsons Crossroads | 0 | View › |
| Caldwell | 0 | View › |
| Laws | 0 | View › |
| Briarcliff | 0 | View › |
| Carr | 0 | View › |
| Dogwood Acres | 0 | View › |
| Cedar Grove | 0 | View › |
| White Cross | 0 | View › |
5 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.