ZIP 28690 recorded 55 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 601 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Burke County, NC. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.
601 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 125 | |
| 2022 | 135 | |
| 2023 | 158 | |
| 2024 | 128 | |
| 2025 | 55 |
Nov peaks. Oct dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 28690 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 127 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Hazardous condition, other | 84 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Unauthorized burning | 45 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Power line down | 43 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 34 | 5.7% |
For the 15 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 28690 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 26 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 14 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 52 | 31.9% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 45.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 23 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 28690 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 4070% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $125,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 4 | $90,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 5 | $83,710 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
| 8 | $44,286 | Building fires | 2023 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 28690.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Valdese | 591 | |
| 2 | Rutherford College | 5 | |
| 3 | Connelly Springs | 4 |
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 — 601 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.