In 2025, fire departments serving Loris responded to 381 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $228K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,699 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.8M cumulative property loss. 10 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 308 | — | |
| 2022 | 344 | +11.7% | |
| 2023 | 294 | -14.5% | |
| 2024 | 372 | +26.5% | |
| 2025 | 381 | +2.4% |
For the 35 building fires Loris departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 515 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 | 187 | 36.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 54 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 37 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 36 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 36 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 27 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 89 | 17.3% |
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 Loris mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 275 | 53.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 30 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 28 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 27 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Match | 22 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 18 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 13 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 11 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 65 | 12.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Loris departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 66% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $228,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $172,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loris sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
27 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 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 40,497 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 19,130 | 16.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,577 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,089 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Debris and open burning | 970 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 830 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 11.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Loris. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loris.
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.