In 2025, fire departments serving Easley responded to 527 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,833 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.4M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 484 | — | |
| 2022 | 498 | +2.9% | |
| 2023 | 574 | +15.3% | |
| 2024 | 750 | +30.7% | |
| 2025 | 527 | -29.7% |
For the 61 building fires Easley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,034 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 | 269 | 26.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 249 | 24.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 78 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 70 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 46 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 30 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 15 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 189 | 18.3% |
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 Easley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 646 | 62.5% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 56 | 5.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 53 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 45 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 35 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 27 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 24 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 92 | 8.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Easley departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $161,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Easley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
10 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,416 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 43.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,050 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 889 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 570 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 524 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 468 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 440 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 425 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 407 | 38.9 mi |
Top 8 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 Easley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Easley.
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.