In 2025, fire departments serving Andrews responded to 166 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
670 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 112 | — | |
| 2022 | 145 | +29.5% | |
| 2023 | 93 | -35.9% | |
| 2024 | 154 | +65.6% | |
| 2025 | 166 | +7.8% |
For the 22 building fires Andrews departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 390 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 135 | 34.6% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 87 | 22.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 53 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 20 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 33 | 8.5% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Andrews mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 259 | 66.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 36 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 17 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 6 | Match | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 7.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Andrews departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $58,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Andrews sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 52,674 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 45.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 21.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 17.4 mi |
Top 7 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six South Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Andrews. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.