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2025 County Report

Fires in Stanly County, NC

In 2025, fire departments serving Stanly County responded to 454 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss.

33,779 residents FIPS 37167 28 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
454
2,124 across 5 years
Building fires
100
95 wildland
Property loss
$1.4M
$992K structure · $427K contents
Casualties
0 / 6
0 civ deaths · 2 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 56% of all calls.

454
Total Incidents
Building fires 100 22.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 64 14.1%
Authorized controlled burning 34 7.5%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 29 6.4%
Unauthorized burning 29 6.4%
All other categories 198 43.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Stanly County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 55
Feb 34
Mar 99
Apr 28
May 35
Jun 20
Jul 42
Aug 27
Sep 43
Oct 28
Nov 36
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Stanly County

2,124 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 319
2022 399
2023 489
2024 463
2025 454
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 100 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
44%
81
Cause undetermined
11%
20
Intentional / arson
18%
34
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
15
Under investigation
16%
30
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $740K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Stanly County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 75% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Albemarle Building fires Significant
2 $120,000 Albemarle Building fires Significant
3 $87,000 Badin Building fires Significant
4 $80,000 Albemarle Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 Richfield Building fires Significant
6 $50,000 Albemarle Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 Albemarle Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $50,000 Locust Building fires Significant
9 $48,000 Oakboro Building fires Significant
10 $45,000 ALBEMARLE Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
06 How Stanly County compares

Stanly County vs NC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.44
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Stanly County
13.44
NC avg
9.36
US avg
7.15
2.96
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Stanly County
2.96
NC avg
1.35
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Stanly County
0
NC avg
8.6
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Stanly County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 37167.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Stanly County

3 departments report from this county.

Sunset Beach Fire Department
Sunset Beach
FDID 01010 56 incidents 5 paid 11 vol
East Side Volunteer Fire Depar
Albemarle
FDID 08407 27 incidents 40 vol
West Stanly Fire Department St
Locust
FDID 08409 0 incidents 35 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.