In 2025, fire departments serving Campobello responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $95K 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 58% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
320 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | — | |
| 2022* | 29 | — | |
| 2023 | 107 | — | |
| 2024 | 67 | -37.4% | |
| 2025 | 73 | +9.0% |
* Well below Campobello'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 7 building fires Campobello departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 112 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 | 36 | 32.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 10.7% |
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 Campobello mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 41 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Match | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Campobello departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $95,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $300 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Campobello sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 51,436 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,760 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,268 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 820 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 740 | 35.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Campobello. 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.