In 2025, fire departments serving Saluda responded to 110 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
550 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $150K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 110 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | +26.4% | |
| 2023 | 152 | +9.4% | |
| 2024* | 39 | — | |
| 2025 | 110 | — |
* Well below Saluda'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 6 building fires Saluda departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 89 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 | 32 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 6.7% |
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 Saluda mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 17 | 19.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Match | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 10.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Saluda sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 58,194 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 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 5,500 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 5,015 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,163 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 2,404 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Other causes | 2,005 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 1,760 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,268 | 42.8 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 North Carolina cities with population within ±25% of Saluda. 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.