In 2025, fire departments serving Rock Hill responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 89% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
134 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 79 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -73.4% | |
| 2023* | 8 | — | |
| 2024* | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | — |
* Well below Rock Hill'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 Rock Hill departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 10.0% |
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 Rock Hill mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Match | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Candle | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 10.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rock Hill sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,595 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,475 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 360 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Debris and open burning | 270 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 265 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 225 | 30.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 150 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 150 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1997 | Smoking | 135 | 46.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 120 | 48.1 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 Missouri cities with population within ±25% of Rock Hill. 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.