In 2025, fire departments serving Spartanburg responded to 1,068 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $810K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
6,152 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13.3M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,078 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,148 | +6.5% | |
| 2023 | 1,271 | +10.7% | |
| 2024 | 1,587 | +24.9% | |
| 2025 | 1,068 | -32.7% |
For the 191 building fires Spartanburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,589 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 | 260 | 16.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 219 | 13.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 185 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 165 | 10.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 116 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 94 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 78 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 48 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 35 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 26 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 363 | 22.8% |
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 Spartanburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 964 | 60.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 85 | 5.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 83 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 68 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 62 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 48 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 43 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 33 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 31 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 149 | 9.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Spartanburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 52% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $810,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $281,900 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $217,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $185,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Spartanburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
51 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 15 | |
| 30-39 | 14 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,307 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 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,913 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 2,235 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,477 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 524 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Recreation and ceremony | 351 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 330 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 48.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Spartanburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Spartanburg.
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.