In 2025, fire departments serving Cross Hill responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
154 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 27 | -15.6% | |
| 2023* | 13 | — | |
| 2024 | 27 | — | |
| 2025 | 55 | +103.7% |
* Well below Cross Hill'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 6 building fires Cross Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 64 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 | 30 | 46.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 1.6% |
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 Cross Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 44 | 68.8% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Match | 4 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Sunlight | 1 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 1.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cross Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,089 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 8.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 234 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 220 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 163 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 152 | 19.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 144 | 48.5 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 South Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Cross Hill. 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.