In 2025, fire departments serving Charleston responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $350K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Charleston's departments reported 25 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 45 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
224 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $3.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | +67.6% | |
| 2023 | 61 | +7.0% | |
| 2024 | 47 | -23.0% | |
| 2025* | 25 | — |
* 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 2 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 119 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 | 42 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 19 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Other | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 13.4% |
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 Charleston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 69 | 58.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Charleston departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $350,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Charleston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 71,423 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 27,870 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,788 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,450 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,200 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,480 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,080 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,035 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,018 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,747 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,600 | 10.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,560 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 1,450 | 48.0 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 Tennessee 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.