In 2025, fire departments serving York responded to 274 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 55% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,600 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $6.1M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 304 | — | |
| 2022 | 315 | +3.6% | |
| 2023 | 314 | -0.3% | |
| 2024 | 393 | +25.2% | |
| 2025 | 274 | -30.3% |
For the 54 building fires York departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 299 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 | 70 | 23.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 30 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 16 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 7 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 70 | 23.4% |
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 York mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 150 | 50.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 9.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 17 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 12.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by York departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 92% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $321,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. York sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,422 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,431 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 562 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 535 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 493 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 175 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 165 | 30.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 141 | 33.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 140 | 7.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 136 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 130 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 125 | 22.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 116 | 13.5 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 York. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in York.
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.