North Carolina wildfires

Are wildfire records common in North Carolina?

North Carolina averages about 3.2 wildfire records a year since 2000, 30th of 48 states and territories by count. The busiest year on record was 2011 (8). Per 10,000 square miles of land, North Carolina records 6.8 wildfire records since 1996, 32nd of 48 states and territories by that measure.

1. 1. Hawaii 441
2. 2. New Jersey 241
3. 3. Puerto Rico 137
4. 4. California 102
5. 5. Florida 91
6. 6. Oklahoma 88
7. 7. Delaware 87
8. 8. Washington 82
9. 9. Oregon 77
10. 10. Colorado 64
11. 32. North Carolina 6.8

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records since 1996, per 10,000 square miles of land area (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer; places under 1,000 square miles not ranked). Damage colours: Storm Events damage, 2025 dollars.

Which counties in North Carolina have the most wildfire records?

Per square mile, New Hanover County leads North Carolina: 2 days with a wildfire record since 1996, 10.4 per 1,000 square miles of land. By raw count, Pender County has the most wildfire records (6 since 1996); large counties collect more records simply by covering more ground, so the ranking counts days with a record per unit of area (a storm filed for several forecast zones adds several records but one day).

1. New Hanover County 10.4 (2)
2. Pender County 6.9 (6)
3. Brunswick County 4.7 (4)
4. McDowell County 4.5 (2)
5. Mitchell County 4.5 (1)
6. Polk County 4.2 (1)
7. Swain County 3.8 (2)
8. Rutherford County 3.5 (2)
9. Graham County 3.4 (1)
10. Watauga County 3.2 (1)
11. Yancey County 3.2 (1)
12. Bladen County 2.3 (2)

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, days with a record in the county since 1996 per 1,000 square miles of land (Census Bureau 2024 Gazetteer); in brackets, the count of records.

When is fire season in North Carolina?

North Carolina's wildfire records by month. The busiest month is November (9 records).

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records by the month they began, since 1996.

The costliest wildfire records in North Carolina

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database: property and crop damage as estimated by the National Weather Service, in 2025 dollars.

Are wildfire records becoming more frequent in North Carolina?

North Carolina's count per decade against the whole country's, and its share. NOAA recorded every event type only from 1996, so earlier decades are not comparable; the share of the national total is the fairer comparison across decades.

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database.

The most recent wildfire records in North Carolina

Source: NOAA NCEI Storm Events Database, records through June 30, 2026; the newest months are revised by NCEI as reports arrive. Search the record at NCEI.

Federal disaster declarations for wildfire records in North Carolina

FEMA has declared 10 disasters in North Carolina for wildfire, counting its incident type and declarations that name fire in the title (FEMA files most storm disasters under Severe Storm); 0 were major disasters, the latest on May 3, 2025.

Source: FEMA OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries (v2), through October 2, 2026. OpenFEMA dataset page.

Next

• New Hanover County: the county's whole recordThe North Carolina county with the most wildfire records per square mile
• Wildfires across the United StatesEvery state ranked, by year and month
• Every natural hazard in North CarolinaTornadoes, floods, storms, heat and the federal declarations
• Severe thunderstorm wind in North Carolina20,476 records
• Hail in North Carolina9,900 records
• Winter storms in North Carolina8,965 records