In 2025, fire departments serving Hanahan responded to 140 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
533 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 82 | — | |
| 2022 | 93 | +13.4% | |
| 2023 | 103 | +10.8% | |
| 2024 | 115 | +11.7% | |
| 2025 | 140 | +21.7% |
For the 21 building fires Hanahan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 177 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 | 38 | 21.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 19 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 11 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 7 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 24.9% |
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 Hanahan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 16 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 6 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 12.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hanahan departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $34,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hanahan sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,736 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 19.7 mi |
Top 3 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 Hanahan. 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.