In 2025, fire departments serving Conway responded to 838 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $800K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 39% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,111 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $20.9M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 564 | — | |
| 2022 | 542 | -3.9% | |
| 2023 | 513 | -5.4% | |
| 2024 | 654 | +27.5% | |
| 2025 | 838 | +28.1% |
For the 61 building fires Conway departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 906 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 | 223 | 24.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 123 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 80 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 78 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 68 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 34 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 26 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 25 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 214 | 23.6% |
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 Conway mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 498 | 55.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 60 | 6.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 55 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 29 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 28 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 25 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 20 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 106 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Conway departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 59% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $800,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $375,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $180,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Conway sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
55 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 | 3 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 37,869 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 7.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,089 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 856 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 20.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 650 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 541 | 40.7 mi |
Top 9 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 Conway. 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.