In 2025, fire departments serving Kingstree responded to 222 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,210 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 250 | — | |
| 2022 | 283 | +13.2% | |
| 2023 | 217 | -23.3% | |
| 2024 | 238 | +9.7% | |
| 2025 | 222 | -6.7% |
For the 28 building fires Kingstree departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 645 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 | 189 | 29.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 101 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 75 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 59 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 39 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 8 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 85 | 13.2% |
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 Kingstree mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 379 | 58.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 67 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 33 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 27 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Match | 20 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 12 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 63 | 9.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Kingstree departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $36,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,636 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kingstree sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 36,427 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 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 33.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 37.2 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 Kingstree. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kingstree.
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.