In 2025, fire departments serving Bennettsville responded to 207 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $180K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,225 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 265 | — | |
| 2022 | 318 | +20.0% | |
| 2023 | 238 | -25.2% | |
| 2024 | 197 | -17.2% | |
| 2025 | 207 | +5.1% |
For the 25 building fires Bennettsville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 457 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 | 121 | 26.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 44 | 9.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 42 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 25 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 92 | 20.1% |
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 Bennettsville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 279 | 61.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 28 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 15 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 37 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bennettsville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bennettsville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,145 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,358 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,181 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 969 | 26.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 21.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 697 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 669 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 547 | 24.7 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 Bennettsville. 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.