In 2025, fire departments serving McClellanville responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
142 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $165K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 15 | — | |
| 2022 | 28 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | +25.0% | |
| 2024 | 38 | +8.6% | |
| 2025 | 26 | -31.6% |
* Well below McClellanville's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 1 building fires McClellanville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 47 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 | 17 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 8.5% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.9% |
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 McClellanville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 48.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 6.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by McClellanville departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. McClellanville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,260 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 | 3,150 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 6.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 10.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 8.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 1,089 | 37.8 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 McClellanville. 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.