In 2025, fire departments serving Isle of Palms responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $9K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Isle of Palms's departments reported 28 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 51 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
254 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $908K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 32 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | +96.9% | |
| 2023 | 67 | +6.3% | |
| 2024 | 64 | -4.5% | |
| 2025* | 28 | — |
* Well below Isle of Palms'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 2 building fires Isle of Palms departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 15.9% |
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 Isle of Palms mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 31.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 9.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Candle | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Isle of Palms departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $9,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Isle of Palms sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,146 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 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 25.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 904 | 10.7 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 | 29451 | 254 |
Six South Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Isle of Palms. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Isle of Palms.
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.