ZIP 27278 recorded 307 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,834 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Durham County, NC.
1,834 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 361 | |
| 2022 | 408 | |
| 2023 | 502 | |
| 2024 | 256 | |
| 2025 | 307 |
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 27278 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | 597 | 32.6% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 182 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Hazardous condition, other | 136 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Power line down | 128 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 107 | 5.8% |
For the 27 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 27278 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 66 | 17.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 66 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 48 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 36 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 28 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 7.0% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 15 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 87 | 22.4% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 133 | 34.3% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 49 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 44 | 11.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 26 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Match | 15 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 14 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 83 | 21.4% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 27278 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 395% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $685,700 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 2 | $220,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $145,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 6 | $68,902 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 27278.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hillsborough | 1,489 | |
| 2 | Efland | 5 | |
| 3 | Chapel Hill | 2 | |
| 4 | Durham | 1 | |
| 5 | New Hope | 1 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Orange County | NC | 1.00 | FIPS 37135 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,834 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.