In 2025, fire departments serving Summerville responded to 897 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $452K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,649 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $12.8M cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 786 | — | |
| 2022 | 869 | +10.6% | |
| 2023 | 935 | +7.6% | |
| 2024 | 1,162 | +24.3% | |
| 2025 | 897 | -22.8% |
For the 144 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 1,673 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 | 273 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 206 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 168 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 151 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 150 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 145 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 79 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 42 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 41 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 35 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 383 | 22.9% |
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 | 892 | 53.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 106 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 106 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 95 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 86 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 57 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 49 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 42 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 28 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 25 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 187 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Summerville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $451,500 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $70,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Summerville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
40 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 | 5 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 10 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 8 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 4 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,736 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,765 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,466 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,933 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,922 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 1,834 | 23.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,695 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,630 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,600 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,600 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,247 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,115 | 22.2 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 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.