In 2025, fire departments serving Chapin responded to 115 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K 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. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
755 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 134 | — | |
| 2022 | 179 | +33.6% | |
| 2023 | 123 | -31.3% | |
| 2024 | 204 | +65.9% | |
| 2025 | 115 | -43.6% |
For the 7 building fires Chapin departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 219 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 | 40 | 18.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 22 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 50 | 22.8% |
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 Chapin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 107 | 48.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 18 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Match | 8 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 15.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chapin departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 93% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $11,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $6,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chapin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,061 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 45.8 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 29.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 260 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 234 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 226 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 30.6 mi |
Top 6 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 Chapin. 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.