In 2025, fire departments serving Harleyville responded to 45 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
194 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $53K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | — | |
| 2023 | 49 | +14.0% | |
| 2024 | 46 | -6.1% | |
| 2025 | 45 | -2.2% |
* Well below Harleyville's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 3 building fires Harleyville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 109 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 | 59 | 54.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 10.1% |
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 Harleyville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 67.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 5.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harleyville departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harleyville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,796 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 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 8.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 33.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 904 | 40.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 862 | 40.7 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 Harleyville. 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.