In 2025, fire departments serving West Columbia responded to 390 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,551 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $15.1M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 497 | — | |
| 2022 | 540 | +8.7% | |
| 2023 | 511 | -5.4% | |
| 2024 | 613 | +20.0% | |
| 2025 | 390 | -36.4% |
For the 64 building fires West Columbia departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 954 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 | 202 | 21.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 126 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 94 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 88 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 72 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 43 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 42 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 21 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Other | 20 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 221 | 23.2% |
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 West Columbia mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 580 | 60.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 64 | 6.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 44 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 37 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 22 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Match | 14 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 96 | 10.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by West Columbia departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 72% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $278,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $102,206 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $74,380 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $56,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $52,368 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. West Columbia sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
19 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 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,835 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,684 | 38.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,484 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 985 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 950 | 47.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 650 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 382 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 350 | 37.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 316 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 310 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 300 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 290 | 12.9 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 West Columbia. 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.