In 2025, fire departments serving Simpsonville responded to 473 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 47% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,807 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $13.0M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 273 | — | |
| 2022 | 285 | +4.4% | |
| 2023 | 326 | +14.4% | |
| 2024 | 450 | +38.0% | |
| 2025 | 473 | +5.1% |
For the 40 building fires Simpsonville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 587 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 | 125 | 21.3% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 80 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 69 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 66 | 11.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 50 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 28 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 18 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 13 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 115 | 19.6% |
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 Simpsonville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 293 | 49.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 38 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 37 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 26 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 20 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 17 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 81 | 13.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Simpsonville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 84% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $275,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $190,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Simpsonville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,284 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 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 524 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Recreation and ceremony | 468 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 351 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 330 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 325 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 275 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 250 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 225 | 43.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Simpsonville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Simpsonville.
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.