In 2025, fire departments serving Charleston responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 8 | +60.0% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | — |
* Well below Charleston'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 0 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 20 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 | 12 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 5.0% |
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 | 18 | 90.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 5.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Charleston sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,843 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 569 | 10.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 500 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 409 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 245 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 227 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 172 | 33.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 122 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 106 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 104 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 102 | 49.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 45.2 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Charleston. 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.