In 2025, fire departments serving Orangeburg responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
159 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 18 | — | |
| 2022 | 43 | — | |
| 2023 | 50 | +16.3% | |
| 2024 | 28 | -44.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | -28.6% |
* Well below Orangeburg'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 4 building fires Orangeburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 25 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Roof surface: exterior | 1 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Undetermined | 1 | 4.0% |
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 Orangeburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 68.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Orangeburg sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,619 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 2,759 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,028 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Smoking | 700 | 21.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 641 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 552 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Smoking | 550 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 500 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 485 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Smoking | 481 | 16.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Firearms and explosives use | 475 | 43.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 468 | 21.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Recreation and ceremony | 410 | 15.0 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 New York cities with population within ±25% of Orangeburg. 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.