In 2025, fire departments serving Ninety Six responded to 159 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $61K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
532 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $571K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | — | |
| 2022 | 89 | +30.9% | |
| 2023 | 113 | +27.0% | |
| 2024 | 103 | -8.8% | |
| 2025 | 159 | +54.4% |
For the 17 building fires Ninety Six departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 154 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 | Outside area, other | 41 | 26.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 21 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Fuel tank, fuel line | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 9.7% |
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 Ninety Six mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 48.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 13 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ninety Six departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $61,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $61,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $61,200 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ninety Six sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,574 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 11.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 11.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 234 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 225 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 220 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 208 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 200 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 190 | 44.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 12.7 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 Ninety Six. 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.