In 2025, fire departments serving Murrells Inlet responded to 160 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
785 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 144 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +20.1% | |
| 2023 | 133 | -23.1% | |
| 2024 | 175 | +31.6% | |
| 2025 | 160 | -8.6% |
For the 22 building fires Murrells Inlet departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 202 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 | 36 | 17.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 9 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 54 | 26.7% |
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 Murrells Inlet mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 110 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 6 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Match | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 4 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Murrells Inlet departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 79% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $85,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $61,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Murrells Inlet 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50,125 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 | 20.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,150 | 12.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,911 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 1,648 | 12.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 1,155 | 16.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Murrells Inlet. 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.