In 2025, fire departments serving Marion responded to 154 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $175K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Trash or rubbish fire, contained lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
731 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 128 | — | |
| 2022 | 165 | +28.9% | |
| 2023 | 115 | -30.3% | |
| 2024 | 169 | +47.0% | |
| 2025 | 154 | -8.9% |
For the 22 building fires Marion departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 356 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 | 122 | 34.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 41 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 28 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 19 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 72 | 20.2% |
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 Marion mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 215 | 60.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 31 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 4.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 16 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 34 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Marion departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 62% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $175,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $90,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Marion 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 39,234 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 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,089 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 950 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 844 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 795 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 765 | 19.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 41.6 mi |
Top 8 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 Marion. 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.