In 2025, fire departments serving Ware Shoals responded to 117 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $56K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
408 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $737K cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 86 | — | |
| 2022 | 82 | -4.7% | |
| 2023 | 49 | -40.2% | |
| 2024 | 74 | +51.0% | |
| 2025 | 117 | +58.1% |
For the 17 building fires Ware Shoals departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 169 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 | 55 | 32.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 20 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 18 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Other | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 13.0% |
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 Ware Shoals mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 19 | 11.2% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 17 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 12 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 7 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Match | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 8.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ware Shoals departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $56,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $500 | Chemical hazard (no spill or leak) | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $250 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ware Shoals 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,771 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Recreation and ceremony | 325 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 33.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 35.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 190 | 17.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 163 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 152 | 16.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 142 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 135 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 48.8 mi |
Top 8 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 Ware Shoals. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ware Shoals.
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.