In 2025, fire departments serving Honea Path responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $85K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,266 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 240 | — | |
| 2022 | 294 | +22.5% | |
| 2023 | 216 | -26.5% | |
| 2024 | 312 | +44.4% | |
| 2025 | 204 | -34.6% |
For the 35 building fires Honea Path departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 384 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 | 92 | 24.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 50 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 42 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 34 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 19 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 80 | 20.8% |
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 Honea Path mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 196 | 51.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 31 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 20 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 18 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 14 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 11 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Honea Path departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $85,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Honea Path sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,275 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 468 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 351 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 325 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 24.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 23.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 163 | 36.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Honea Path. 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.