In 2025, fire departments serving Beaufort responded to 368 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $320K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,243 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 160 | — | |
| 2022 | 184 | +15.0% | |
| 2023 | 187 | +1.6% | |
| 2024 | 344 | +84.0% | |
| 2025 | 368 | +7.0% |
For the 21 building fires Beaufort departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 380 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 | Outside area, other | 57 | 15.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 55 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 41 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 90 | 23.7% |
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 Beaufort mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 179 | 47.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 27 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 22 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 51 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Beaufort departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $320,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $43,500 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Beaufort sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,910 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 46.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,245 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,076 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 916 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 789 | 43.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 761 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 709 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 571 | 21.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 26.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 460 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 436 | 48.4 mi |
Top 9 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 Beaufort. 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.