ZIP 28612 recorded 82 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 559 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Burke County, NC. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
559 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 122 | |
| 2022 | 110 | |
| 2023 | 101 | |
| 2024 | 144 | |
| 2025 | 82 |
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 28612 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 108 | 19.3% | |
| 2 | Authorized controlled burning | 58 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Unauthorized burning | 50 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Hazardous condition, other | 47 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | 33 | 5.9% |
For the 6 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 28612 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 45 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 29 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 13 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 40 | 23.1% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 83 | 48.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 12 | 6.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 33 | 19.1% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 28612 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 249% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 2 | $136,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 3 | $120,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Significant |
| 4 | $85,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 5 | $58,200 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 6 | $58,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 7 | $45,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 28612.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Connelly Springs | 497 | |
| 2 | Rutherford College | 44 | |
| 3 | Valdese | 3 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Caldwell County | NC | 0.50 | FIPS 37027 |
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 — 559 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.