ZIP 27981 recorded 6 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 62 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Dare County, NC. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
62 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | |
| 2022 | 9 | |
| 2023 | 15 | |
| 2024 | 16 | |
| 2025 | 6 |
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 27981 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | 11 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 10 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Authorized controlled burning | 6 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 5 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Water vehicle fire | 3 | 4.8% |
For the 4 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 27981 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 26.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 3 | 15.8% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 5.3% |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 27981.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wanchese | 62 |
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 — 62 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.