In 2025, fire departments serving Gaston responded to 233 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,393 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.5M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 241 | — | |
| 2022 | 308 | +27.8% | |
| 2023 | 292 | -5.2% | |
| 2024 | 319 | +9.2% | |
| 2025 | 233 | -27.0% |
For the 26 building fires Gaston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 642 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 | 139 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 108 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 76 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 64 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 55 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 39 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 21 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 108 | 16.8% |
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 Gaston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 331 | 51.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 48 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 23 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 21 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 20 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Match | 15 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 88 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gaston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $85,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gaston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 14,123 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,684 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 19.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 373 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Natural | 368 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 38.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 46.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 332 | 46.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 42.6 mi |
Top 6 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 Gaston. 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.