In 2025, fire departments serving Piedmont responded to 373 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,995 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $855K cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 324 | — | |
| 2022 | 358 | +10.5% | |
| 2023 | 387 | +8.1% | |
| 2024 | 553 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 373 | -32.5% |
For the 70 building fires Piedmont departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 839 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 | 200 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 181 | 21.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 67 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 62 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 39 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 36 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 25 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Other | 22 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 146 | 17.4% |
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 Piedmont mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 506 | 60.3% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 44 | 5.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 32 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 31 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 28 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 12 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 92 | 11.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Piedmont departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $17,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $7,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $7,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Piedmont 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 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 19,905 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,623 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 1,050 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 800 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 570 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 468 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 407 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 351 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 330 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 325 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.9 mi |
Top 9 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 Piedmont. 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.