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2025 County Report

Fires in Kershaw County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Kershaw County responded to 490 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

21,425 residents FIPS 45055 27 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
490
3,037 across 5 years
Building fires
84
138 wildland
Property loss
$3.4M
$2.8M structure · $621K contents
Casualties
0 / 5
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.

490
Total Incidents
Building fires 84 17.1%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 68 13.9%
Unauthorized burning 61 12.4%
Grass fire 32 6.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 30 6.1%
All other categories 215 43.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Kershaw County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 58
Feb 69
Mar 164
Apr 52
May 18
Jun 18
Jul 16
Aug 9
Sep 17
Oct 7
Nov 45
Dec 17
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Kershaw County

3,037 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 632
2022 652
2023 572
2024 691
2025 490
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 84 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
37%
47
Cause undetermined
32%
40
Intentional / arson
12%
15
Equipment / heat source failure
9%
11
Under investigation
3%
4
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Kershaw County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Lugoff Building fires Major
2 $250,000 CAMDEN Building fires Major
3 $200,000 Lugoff Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Lugoff Building fires Significant
5 $173,300 Lugoff Building fires Significant
6 $150,000 Lugoff Building fires Significant
7 $137,200 Lugoff Building fires Significant
8 $120,000 Lugoff Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $100,000 CAMDEN Building fires Significant
10 $100,000 Lugoff Building fires Significant
06 How Kershaw County compares

Kershaw County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.87
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Kershaw County
22.87
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
3.92
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Kershaw County
3.92
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Kershaw County
0
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Kershaw County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45055.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Kershaw County

2 departments report from this county.

Lugoff FD
—
FDID 28309 189 incidents
Camden FD
—
FDID 28305 161 incidents 25 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.