In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Mill responded to 652 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,462 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 442 | — | |
| 2022 | 454 | +2.7% | |
| 2023 | 430 | -5.3% | |
| 2024 | 484 | +12.6% | |
| 2025 | 652 | +34.7% |
For the 80 building fires Fort Mill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 631 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 112 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 67 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 66 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 65 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 54 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 46 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 32 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 25 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 136 | 21.6% |
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 Fort Mill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 285 | 45.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 60 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 37 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 29 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 22 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 17 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 93 | 14.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Mill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 78% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Mill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,302 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 49.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 280 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 200 | 47.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 179 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 160 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 141 | 39.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Fort Mill. 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.