In 2025, fire departments serving Heath Springs responded to 80 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
496 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $501K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 65 | — | |
| 2022 | 127 | +95.4% | |
| 2023 | 126 | -0.8% | |
| 2024 | 98 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 80 | -18.4% |
For the 14 building fires Heath Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 110 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 | 40 | 36.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 35 | 31.8% | |
| 3 | Other | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 7.3% |
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 Heath Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 64 | 58.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 8.2% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 5 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Match | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 4 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 8.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Heath Springs departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Heath Springs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,570 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 35.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 35.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 34.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 378 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 325 | 39.8 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 29058 | 496 |
Six South Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Heath Springs. 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.