In 2025, fire departments serving Summerville responded to 204 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
989 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $456K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 100 | — | |
| 2022 | 169 | — | |
| 2023 | 276 | +63.3% | |
| 2024 | 240 | -13.0% | |
| 2025 | 204 | -15.0% |
* Well below Summerville'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 9 building fires Summerville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 162 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 | 112 | 69.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 7 | Other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 6.8% |
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 Summerville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 142 | 87.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 0.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Summerville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Summerville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,543 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 2,836 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,083 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,448 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,281 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,167 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2001 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 1,100 | 36.4 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Georgia cities with population within ±25% of Summerville. 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.