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2025 County Report

Fires in Sampson County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Sampson County responded to 143 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $85K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

16,532 residents FIPS 37163 57 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
143
2,130 across 5 years
Building fires
34
44 wildland
Property loss
$421K
$329K structure · $92K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.

143
Total Incidents
Building fires 34 23.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 15 10.5%
Grass fire 14 9.8%
Authorized controlled burning 14 9.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 13 9.1%
All other categories 53 37.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Sampson County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 13
Feb 24
Mar 28
Apr 22
May 20
Jun 16
Jul 7
Aug 4
Sep 4
Oct 1
Nov 3
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Sampson County

2,130 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 619
2022 655
2023 492
2024 221
2025 143
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 34 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
16
Cause undetermined
13%
6
Intentional / arson
17%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
4
Under investigation
26%
12
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $329K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Sampson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $85,000 Roseboro Building fires Significant
2 $84,928 Roseboro Building fires Significant
3 $71,568 Roseboro Building fires Significant
4 $43,968 Clinton Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
5 $25,000 Roseboro Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
6 $10,000 ROSEBORO Building fires Significant
7 $6,556 Roseboro Building fires Significant
8 $1,500 AUTRYVILLE Outside storage fire Significant
9 $500 ROSEBORO Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
10 $150 Autryville Heat from short circuit (wiring), defective/worn Significant
06 How Sampson County compares

Sampson County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.65
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Sampson County
8.65
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
2.06
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Sampson County
2.06
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Sampson County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Sampson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37163.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Sampson County

4 departments report from this county.

NEWTON GROVE FIRE DEPARTMENT
NEWTON GROVE
FDID 08207 0 incidents
Vann Crossroads Fire Departmen
Newton Grove
FDID 08213 0 incidents 35 vol
Piney Grove Fire Department
Faison
FDID 08214 0 incidents 23 vol
Taylors Bridge Fire Departmen
Clinton
FDID 08216 0 incidents 28 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.