Two Raleigh firefighters carry a ladder in front of a residential home

Number of Fires Decreased; Main Cause Stayed the Same

By the Numbers: Q1 2023 Fire Statistics

News Published 6/27/2023 Updated 8/28/2024

This news article is more than a year old.

The Raleigh Fire Department keeps a close eye on statistics related to the services we provide to the community. Statistics allow us to focus our efforts on geographical areas that may have a specific public safety need, and they help us keep track of resources that are needed to mitigate hazards. Thanks to statistics, we know to focus our fire and life safety education efforts on the areas of the city that show a need at any given time.

The first quarter of this year looked similar to the fourth quarter of 2022. However, there were a few changes worth mentioning.

The number of all fires decreased from 308 fires in the last quarter of 2022 to 254 fires during the first quarter of this year. This may be partly due to people tending to do more cooking during the last quarter of the year given the holidays and gatherings, says Capt. James Pearce.

Fires related to the two leading causes – unattended cooking and inappropriately discarded smoking materials – increased slightly. There were 45 cooking fires, compared to 43, and 10 smoking material fires, compared to eight.

Financial losses that resulted from fires increased by 41 percent, from $2.9 million to $4.1 million. However, financial losses can be quite variable due to a multitude of situations and conditions, Pearce pointed out.

2023 Quarter 1 Statistics
All Fires ((including brush, vehicle, dumpsters, etc., along with residential and commercial properties)	254
Residential	66
Commercial	23
Cooking	45 fires (51 percent of fires in buildings)
Smoking Materials	10 fires (11 percent of fires in buildings)
Approximate Dollar Loss Due to Fire	$4.1 million
Fire Extinguised by a Sprinkler System	6 fires
Fire Department EMS Responses	8,108 (63% of all responses)