In 2025, fire departments serving Newberry responded to 255 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $550K 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 50% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,058 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.3M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 165 | — | |
| 2022 | 177 | +7.3% | |
| 2023 | 202 | +14.1% | |
| 2024 | 259 | +28.2% | |
| 2025 | 255 | -1.5% |
For the 57 building fires Newberry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 333 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 | 94 | 28.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 41 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 19 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 12 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 86 | 25.8% |
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 Newberry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 148 | 44.4% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 37 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 23 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 21 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 18 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 17 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 8 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Newberry departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 75% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $550,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Newberry 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 6,872 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 14.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 234 | 43.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 220 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 208 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 189 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 180 | 42.0 mi |
Top 5 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 Newberry. 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.