In 2025, fire departments across North Carolina responded to 60,799 fire and hazmat incidents — including the GREAT LAKES wildfire that burned 32,156 acres in 2023.
North Carolina ranks #27 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Oct dips.
367,806 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 70,586 | |
| 2022 | 80,992 | |
| 2023 | 78,893 | |
| 2024 | 76,536 | |
| 2025 | 60,799 |
For the 8,798 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 51,640 | 28,183 / 23,457 | 141,316 | |
| 2 | Debris & open burning | 49,367 | 49,367 / 0 | 193,843 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 34,047 | 20,414 / 13,633 | 234,563 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 20,269 | 10,213 / 10,056 | 57,225 | |
| 5 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 8,513 | 8,513 / 0 | 15,993 | |
| 6 | Smoking | 6,622 | 6,622 / 0 | 14,917 | |
| 7 | Natural (lightning) | 4,500 | 2,413 / 2,087 | 183,979 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 2,170 | 386 / 1,784 | 3,328 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 1,613 | 1,613 / 0 | 4,962 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 1,123 | 1,123 / 0 | 5,206 | |
| 11 | Recreation & ceremony | 877 | 877 / 0 | 19,996 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 436 | 436 / 0 | 1,533 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 86,847 | $1.1B | 287 | |
| 2 | Outdoor fires | 84,900 | $12.4M | 5 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 56,102 | $1.6M | 0 | |
| 4 | Wildland fires | 51,830 | $9.6M | 3 | |
| 5 | Gas leaks | 45,836 | $210K | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 24,458 | $179.8M | 70 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 19,892 | $5.7M | 2 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 14,300 | $1.5M | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 4,203 | $6.9M | 3 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 27% of North Carolina's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000,000 | OAK RIDGE | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $20,000,000 | OAK RIDGE | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $5,000,000 | WILMINGTON | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 4 | $3,100,000 | ASHEVILLE | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,074,100 | Duck | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,024,900 | SOUTHERN SHORES | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | DURHAM | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $2,000,000 | DURHAM | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $1,970,000 | Harrisburg | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,847,003 | Apex | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare North Carolina apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mecklenburg County | 5,254 | 1,049,524 |
| 2 | Wake County | 5,095 | 939,695 |
| 3 | Cumberland County | 2,978 | 245,751 |
| 4 | Guilford County | 2,929 | 459,521 |
| 5 | Buncombe County | 2,219 | 135,009 |
| 6 | Forsyth County | 1,930 | 323,557 |
| 7 | New Hanover County | 1,742 | 208,186 |
| 8 | Gaston County | 1,588 | 151,531 |
| 9 | Brunswick County | 1,434 | 75,154 |
| 10 | Johnston County | 1,349 | 65,152 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Davidson County | 20.80 | 1,340 | 64,429 | |
| 2 | Johnston County | 20.71 | 1,349 | 65,152 | |
| 3 | Harnett County | 19.26 | 1,069 | 55,492 | |
| 4 | Brunswick County | 19.08 | 1,434 | 75,154 | |
| 5 | Moore County | 18.31 | 1,124 | 61,372 | |
| 6 | Buncombe County | 16.44 | 2,219 | 135,009 | |
| 7 | Henderson County | 15.72 | 1,116 | 71,013 | |
| 8 | Catawba County | 14.00 | 1,255 | 89,652 | |
| 9 | Randolph County | 13.32 | 763 | 57,273 | |
| 10 | Iredell County | 13.15 | 1,256 | 95,530 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
297 perimeters and 78,588 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1970s | 34 | 265 | |
| 1980s | 72 | 1,204 | |
| 1990s | 19 | 68 | |
| 2000s | 56 | 10,342 | |
| 2010s | 54 | 20,489 | |
| 2020s | 62 | 46,220 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 38,611 | |
| 2000s | 49,183 | |
| 2010s | 39,939 | |
| 2020s | 2,432 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 130,165 ignitions total.
4,586 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 68 | |
| 10-19 | 100 | |
| 20-29 | 980 | |
| 30-39 | 1,103 | |
| 40-49 | 1,064 | |
| 50-59 | 473 | |
| 60-69 | 223 | |
| 70-79 | 104 | |
| 80+ | 82 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.