In 2025, fire departments serving Cayce responded to 137 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
822 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 135 | — | |
| 2022 | 199 | +47.4% | |
| 2023 | 152 | -23.6% | |
| 2024 | 199 | +30.9% | |
| 2025 | 137 | -31.2% |
For the 17 building fires Cayce departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 262 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 | 44 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 64 | 24.4% |
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 Cayce mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 127 | 48.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 38 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 20 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 7 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 5 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cayce departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $20,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cayce sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,740 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,684 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 8.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 260 | 28.9 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 Cayce. 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.