In 2025, fire departments serving Port Royal responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $65K building blaze. 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 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
301 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $402K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | +22.4% | |
| 2023* | 29 | — | |
| 2024 | 67 | — | |
| 2025 | 76 | +13.4% |
* Well below Port Royal'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 7 building fires Port Royal departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 91 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 | 16.5% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 15 | 16.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 30.8% |
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 Port Royal mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 9.9% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 4 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 13.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Port Royal departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $65,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $35,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Port Royal sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,399 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 1,245 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,076 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,016 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 916 | 47.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 789 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 761 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 709 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 571 | 25.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 480 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 435 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 405 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 346 | 46.1 mi |
Top 3 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 Port Royal. 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.