In 2025, fire departments serving Lugoff responded to 206 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K 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 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,019 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 188 | — | |
| 2022 | 221 | +17.6% | |
| 2023 | 188 | -14.9% | |
| 2024 | 216 | +14.9% | |
| 2025 | 206 | -4.6% |
For the 41 building fires Lugoff departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 463 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 | 98 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 58 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 57 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 51 | 11.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 50 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 27 | 5.8% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 9 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 66 | 14.3% |
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 Lugoff mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 251 | 54.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 42 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 21 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 18 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 6 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 50 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lugoff departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $173,300 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $137,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $120,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lugoff sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,074 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 | 32.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 9.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 32.5 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 730 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 395 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 325 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 295 | 44.3 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 Lugoff. 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.