In 2025, fire departments serving Charleston responded to 226 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
986 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 186 | — | |
| 2022 | 189 | +1.6% | |
| 2023 | 203 | +7.4% | |
| 2024 | 182 | -10.3% | |
| 2025 | 226 | +24.2% |
For the 19 building fires Charleston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 188 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 12.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 10 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 67 | 35.6% |
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 Charleston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 23 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 17 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 23.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Charleston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Charleston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 20 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 891 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 160 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 50 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 35 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20 | 33.5 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Charleston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Charleston.
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.