In 2025, fire departments serving Bamberg responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Bamberg's departments reported 48 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 88 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
442 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65 | — | |
| 2022 | 84 | +29.2% | |
| 2023 | 97 | +15.5% | |
| 2024 | 148 | +52.6% | |
| 2025* | 48 | — |
* Well below Bamberg's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 5 building fires Bamberg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 106 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 26.4% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 6.6% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 17 | 16.0% |
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 Bamberg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 24.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 14 | 13.2% | |
| 4 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Match | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 15 | 14.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bamberg departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,500 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bamberg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,564 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,684 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 709 | 25.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 16.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 549 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 481 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 460 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 436 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 373 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 373 | 17.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Bamberg. 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.