In 2025, fire departments serving Graniteville responded to 123 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
885 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $254K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 146 | — | |
| 2022 | 225 | +54.1% | |
| 2023 | 189 | -16.0% | |
| 2024 | 202 | +6.9% | |
| 2025 | 123 | -39.1% |
For the 36 building fires Graniteville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 374 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 73 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 59 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 53 | 14.2% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 44 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 20 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 18 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior, exposed surface | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 69 | 18.4% |
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 Graniteville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 153 | 40.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 22 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 21 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Match | 18 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 16 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 9 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 13.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Graniteville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Graniteville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,914 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 11.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 481 | 36.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 373 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 285 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Smoking | 260 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 259 | 46.1 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 Graniteville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Graniteville.
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.