In 2025, fire departments serving Carlisle responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
109 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $563K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 25 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -16.0% | |
| 2023* | 11 | — | |
| 2024 | 26 | — | |
| 2025 | 26 | +0.0% |
* Well below Carlisle'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 Carlisle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 39 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 | 10 | 25.6% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.7% |
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 Carlisle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 48.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Blasting agent | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Carlisle departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carlisle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,463 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 200 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 141 | 12.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 135 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 135 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 130 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 15.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 125 | 48.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Carlisle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carlisle.
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.