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2025 County Report

Fires in Darlington County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Darlington County responded to 652 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $441K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

19,690 residents FIPS 45031 48 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
652
4,175 across 5 years
Building fires
101
206 wildland
Property loss
$5.2M
$3.9M structure · $1.3M contents
Casualties
2 / 4
2 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 4 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.

652
Total Incidents
Building fires 101 15.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 92 14.1%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 50 7.7%
Grass fire 46 7.1%
Authorized controlled burning 45 6.9%
All other categories 318 48.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Darlington County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 96
Feb 114
Mar 152
Apr 65
May 45
Jun 58
Jul 15
Aug 19
Sep 61
Oct 7
Nov 14
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Darlington County

4,175 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 875
2022 994
2023 824
2024 830
2025 652
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 101 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
132
Cause undetermined
40%
129
Intentional / arson
8%
27
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
12
Under investigation
7%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
1
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Darlington County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 44% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $440,800 HARTSVILLE Special outside fire, other Major
2 $200,000 HARTSVILLE Building fires Significant
3 $200,000 HARTSVILLE Building fires Significant
4 $170,000 HARTSVILLE Building fires Significant
5 $150,000 DARLINGTON Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 DARLINGTON Building fires Significant
7 $121,300 Darlington Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 HARTSVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 LAMAR Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 DARLINGTON Building fires Significant
06 How Darlington County compares

Darlington County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

33.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Darlington County
33.11
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
5.13
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Darlington County
5.13
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
101.6
Civilian fire deaths per million
Darlington County
101.6
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Darlington County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45031.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Darlington County

1 departments report from this county.

Hartsville FD
—
FDID 16304 149 incidents 12 paid
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.