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2025 County Report

Fires in Chesterfield County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Chesterfield County responded to 602 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

12,535 residents FIPS 45025 30 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
602
2,971 across 5 years
Building fires
133
204 wildland
Property loss
$5.0M
$3.3M structure · $1.7M contents
Casualties
2 / 7
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 7 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 64% of all calls.

602
Total Incidents
Building fires 133 22.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 96 15.9%
Grass fire 68 11.3%
Aircraft standby 56 9.3%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 30 5.0%
All other categories 219 36.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Chesterfield County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 48
Feb 78
Mar 94
Apr 49
May 45
Jun 51
Jul 51
Aug 41
Sep 60
Oct 26
Nov 34
Dec 25
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Chesterfield County

2,971 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 526
2022 528
2023 642
2024 673
2025 602
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 133 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
62%
144
Cause undetermined
10%
24
Intentional / arson
9%
22
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
15
Under investigation
8%
19
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
10
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Chesterfield County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 61% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 CHERAW Arcing, shorted electrical equipment Major
2 $420,000 Cheraw Building fires Major
3 $250,000 PAGELAND Building fires Major
4 $100,000 Chesterfield Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Pageland Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 CHERAW Building fires Significant
7 $90,000 PAGELAND Building fires Significant
8 $75,000 Cheraw Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 CHERAW Building fires Significant
10 $65,000 JEFFERSON Building fires Significant
06 How Chesterfield County compares

Chesterfield County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

48.03
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Chesterfield County
48.03
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
10.61
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Chesterfield County
10.61
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
159.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Chesterfield County
159.6
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Chesterfield County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45025.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Chesterfield County

3 departments report from this county.

Cheraw FD
—
FDID 13302 115 incidents
Alligator FD
—
FDID 13207 64 incidents
Chesterfield FD
—
FDID 13203 48 incidents 22 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in SC

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Turn Table 2017 USFS 1,694
2 SCWAR-FY19-RX-Sandy Island 2019 2019 PRI 1,655
3 Memorial 2019 USFS 1,635
4 Cumbee 2018 USFS 1,629
5 Bullhead 2017 USFS 1,115
6 SCCRR-FY19-RX-0803 2019 FWS 1,038
7 Mill Mountain 2023 USFS 935
8 Keepers Branch 2018 USFS 766
9 SCCRR-FY19-RX-0704 2019 FWS 730
10 Calestown 2018 USFS 616

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.