In 2025, fire departments serving Burton responded to 19 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 69% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
84 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $465K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | — | |
| 2025 | 19 | -55.8% |
* Well below Burton'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 1 building fires Burton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.1% |
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 Burton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 58.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Burton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,514 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 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,245 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,076 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 916 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 789 | 42.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 761 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 709 | 39.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 571 | 21.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 435 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 405 | 43.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Burton. 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.