In 2025, fire departments serving Lancaster responded to 737 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $418K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,562 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.8M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 738 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,187 | +60.8% | |
| 2023 | 1,125 | -5.2% | |
| 2024 | 775 | -31.1% | |
| 2025 | 737 | -4.9% |
For the 120 building fires Lancaster departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 720 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 | Outside area, other | 215 | 29.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 209 | 29.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 38 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 24 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 20 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 11 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 110 | 15.3% |
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 Lancaster mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 398 | 55.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 68 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 35 | 4.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 28 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 21 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 16 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lancaster departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 61% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $418,100 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $214,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $99,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lancaster sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,627 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 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 45.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 39.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 325 | 46.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 280 | 32.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Lancaster. 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.