In 2025, fire departments serving Rock Hill responded to 854 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K 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 48% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,300 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $18.7M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 673 | — | |
| 2022 | 731 | +8.6% | |
| 2023 | 524 | -28.3% | |
| 2024 | 518 | -1.1% | |
| 2025 | 854 | +64.9% |
For the 99 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 914 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 | Undetermined | 218 | 23.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 142 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 73 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 65 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 52 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 48 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 31 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 24 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 213 | 23.3% |
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 | Undetermined | 494 | 54.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 74 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 60 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 51 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 33 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 32 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 27 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 13 | 1.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 13 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 12 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 105 | 11.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rock Hill departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 49% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $205,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rock Hill sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 4,073 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Natural | 400 | 47.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 250 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 200 | 45.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 179 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 160 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 141 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 16.3 mi |
Top 7 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 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.