In 2025, fire departments serving North Augusta responded to 243 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $207K 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 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,423 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 236 | — | |
| 2022 | 310 | +31.4% | |
| 2023 | 260 | -16.1% | |
| 2024 | 374 | +43.8% | |
| 2025 | 243 | -35.0% |
For the 44 building fires North Augusta departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 630 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 95 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 92 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 87 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 66 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 49 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 44 | 7.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 19 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 14 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 135 | 21.4% |
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 North Augusta mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 285 | 45.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 84 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 62 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 33 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 16 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 11 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 77 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by North Augusta departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $206,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $105,353 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. North Augusta sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 4 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 4 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,284 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 586 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 481 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 373 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 285 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 263 | 38.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 259 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 8.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 238 | 27.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 234 | 16.2 mi |
Top 10 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 North Augusta. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in North Augusta.
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.