In 2025, fire departments serving Ladson responded to 215 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K 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 60% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,095 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $3.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 200 | — | |
| 2022 | 209 | +4.5% | |
| 2023 | 214 | +2.4% | |
| 2024 | 257 | +20.1% | |
| 2025 | 215 | -16.3% |
For the 43 building fires Ladson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 449 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 | 79 | 17.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 65 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 59 | 13.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 54 | 12.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 36 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 91 | 20.3% |
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 Ladson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 258 | 57.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 26 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 7 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 46 | 10.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ladson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 89% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ladson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,736 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 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 18.6 mi |
Top 7 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 Ladson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ladson.
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.