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2025 County Report

Fires in Person County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Person County responded to 260 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $876K property loss.

8,131 residents FIPS 37145 26 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
260
2,242 across 5 years
Building fires
36
43 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$2.1M structure · $504K contents
Casualties
1 / 1
1 civ deaths · 1 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 48% of all calls.

260
Total Incidents
Hazardous condition, other 39 15.0%
Building fires 36 13.8%
Grass fire 22 8.5%
Power line down 15 5.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 12 4.6%
All other categories 136 52.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Person County?

Mar peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 28
Feb 22
Mar 56
Apr 45
May 28
Jun 30
Jul 31
Aug 18
Sep 0
Oct 1
Nov 1
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Person County

2,242 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 478
2022 538
2023 520
2024 446
2025 260
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 36 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
52%
34
Cause undetermined
26%
17
Intentional / arson
5%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
6
Under investigation
6%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.9M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Person County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 91% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $876,220 ROXBORO Building fires Major
2 $390,000 ROXBORO Building fires Major
3 $100,000 TIMBERLAKE Fire, other Significant
4 $100,000 ROXBORO Building fires Significant
5 $83,000 ROXBORO Building fires Significant
6 $75,000 TIMBERLAKE Building fires Significant
7 $65,000 ROXBORO Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $65,000 ROXBORO Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 ROXBORO Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 ROXBORO Building fires Significant
06 How Person County compares

Person County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

31.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Person County
31.98
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
4.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Person County
4.43
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
123
Civilian fire deaths per million
Person County
123
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Person County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37145.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Person County

2 departments report from this county.

HURDLE MILLS VOL FIRE DEPT
HURDLE MILLS
FDID 07301 34 incidents 56 vol
TIMBERLAKE FIRE RESCUE
Timberlake
FDID 07303 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.