In 2025, fire departments serving Georgetown responded to 429 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.5M 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 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,843 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $12.9M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 339 | — | |
| 2022 | 355 | +4.7% | |
| 2023 | 329 | -7.3% | |
| 2024 | 391 | +18.8% | |
| 2025 | 429 | +9.7% |
For the 54 building fires Georgetown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 942 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 | 317 | 33.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 106 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 83 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 74 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 49 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 46 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 36 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 26 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 16 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 167 | 17.7% |
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 Georgetown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 549 | 58.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 53 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 47 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 42 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 36 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 31 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 23 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 20 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 16 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 104 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Georgetown departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 70% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $301,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $250,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Georgetown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 54,163 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 18.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 36.1 mi |
Top 5 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 Georgetown. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Georgetown.
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.