ZIP 28403 recorded 559 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 2,731 across 2021–2025. Primary county: New Hanover County, NC. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
2,731 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 329 | |
| 2022 | 418 | |
| 2023 | 688 | |
| 2024 | 737 | |
| 2025 | 559 |
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 28403 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Vehicle accident, general cleanup | 480 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 468 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Power line down | 190 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | 156 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Building fires | 144 | 5.3% |
For the 28 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 28403 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 162 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 119 | 18.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 68 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 44 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 33 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 31 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 164 | 24.9% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 265 | 40.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 112 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 71 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 45 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 44 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 16 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 77 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 28403 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 579% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 3 | $500,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 5 | $266,329 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 6 | $230,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 8 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 28403.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Wilmington | 2,671 | |
| 2 | Wrightsville Beach | 1 |
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 — 2,731 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.