In 2025, fire departments serving Fair Play responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Fair Play's departments reported 38 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 69 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
343 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 46 | — | |
| 2022 | 70 | +52.2% | |
| 2023 | 85 | +21.4% | |
| 2024 | 104 | +22.4% | |
| 2025* | 38 | — |
* Well below Fair Play'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 7 building fires Fair Play departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 147 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 | Outside area, other | 42 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 27 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 22 | 15.0% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Structural area, other | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 9.5% |
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 Fair Play mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 55.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 6 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 8.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fair Play sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 44,798 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 24,725 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,050 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 889 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 570 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 547 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 468 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 440 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 392 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 351 | 48.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Fair Play. 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.