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2025 County Report

Fires in Clarendon County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Clarendon County responded to 438 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

10,402 residents FIPS 45027 33 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
438
2,495 across 5 years
Building fires
50
144 wildland
Property loss
$3.7M
$2.3M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.

438
Total Incidents
Forest, woods or wildland fire 52 11.9%
Building fires 50 11.4%
Grass fire 48 11.0%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 44 10.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 41 9.4%
All other categories 203 46.3%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Clarendon County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 61
Feb 49
Mar 88
Apr 39
May 29
Jun 29
Jul 20
Aug 21
Sep 46
Oct 17
Nov 38
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Clarendon County

2,495 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 527
2022 607
2023 424
2024 499
2025 438
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 50 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
131
Cause undetermined
34%
96
Intentional / arson
7%
21
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
5
Under investigation
2%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
8%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Clarendon County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 57% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 ALCOLU Outside equipment fire Major
2 $200,000 MANNING Building fires Significant
3 $155,000 GABLE Building fires Significant
4 $155,000 GABLE Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 MANNING Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
6 $100,000 SUMMERTON Building fires Significant
7 $80,000 MANNING Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
8 $75,000 Gable Building fires Significant
9 $65,000 NEW ZION Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $60,000 GABLE Building fires Significant
06 How Clarendon County compares

Clarendon County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

42.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Clarendon County
42.11
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
4.81
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Clarendon County
4.81
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Clarendon County
0
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Clarendon County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45027.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Clarendon County

1 departments report from this county.

Hardeeville Fire Department
—
FDID 27302 136 incidents 3 paid 18 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.