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2025 County Report

Fires in Lee County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Lee County responded to 278 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

4,882 residents FIPS 45061 27 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
278
1,256 across 5 years
Building fires
15
103 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.2M structure · $539K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

278
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 59 21.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 28 10.1%
Grass fire 26 9.4%
Power line down 19 6.8%
Building fires 15 5.4%
All other categories 131 47.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lee County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 25
Feb 29
Mar 47
Apr 25
May 20
Jun 17
Jul 14
Aug 8
Sep 32
Oct 17
Nov 17
Dec 27
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lee County

1,256 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 237
2022 272
2023 227
2024 242
2025 278
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 15 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
78
Cause undetermined
24%
30
Intentional / arson
7%
9
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
5
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $743K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 BISHOPVILLE Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 BISHOPVILLE Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $100,000 LYNCHBURG Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $82,570 BISHOPVILLE Building fires Significant
5 $60,000 BISHOPVILLE Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
6 $50,000 Bishopville Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 BISHOPVILLE Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 BISHOPVILLE Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 BISHOPVILLE Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 BISHOPVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Lee County compares

Lee County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

56.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lee County
56.94
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
3.07
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lee County
3.07
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lee County
0
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lee County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45061.

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.