In 2025, fire departments serving Orangeburg responded to 512 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $219K 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 52% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,845 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $16.7M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 505 | — | |
| 2022 | 588 | +16.4% | |
| 2023 | 580 | -1.4% | |
| 2024 | 660 | +13.8% | |
| 2025 | 512 | -22.4% |
For the 68 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 1,202 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 170 | 14.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 154 | 12.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 135 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 120 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 91 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 77 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 53 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 46 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 38 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 27 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 291 | 24.2% |
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 | Undetermined | 537 | 44.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 129 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 98 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 65 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 64 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 51 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 41 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 30 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Radiated heat from another fire | 28 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 23 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 136 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Orangeburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 47% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $218,750 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $75,000 | 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. Orangeburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
68 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 10 | |
| 20-29 | 7 | |
| 30-39 | 13 | |
| 40-49 | 13 | |
| 50-59 | 5 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 4 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,487 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,684 | 30.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 709 | 34.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Equipment and vehicle use | 549 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 525 | 45.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 510 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 460 | 32.8 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 Orangeburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Orangeburg.
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.