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2025 County Report

Fires in McCormick County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving McCormick County responded to 91 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $50K property loss.

4,079 residents FIPS 45065 18 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
91
422 across 5 years
Building fires
11
26 wildland
Property loss
$112K
$92K structure · $20K 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 63% of all calls.

91
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 17 18.7%
Accident, potential accident, other 15 16.5%
Building fires 11 12.1%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 7.7%
Power line down 7 7.7%
All other categories 34 37.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in McCormick County?

Feb peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 9
Feb 11
Mar 11
Apr 8
May 10
Jun 8
Jul 4
Aug 5
Sep 7
Oct 4
Nov 9
Dec 5
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in McCormick County

422 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 77
2022 103
2023 90
2024 61
2025 91
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
54%
13
Cause undetermined
33%
8
Intentional / arson
4%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
4%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
1
05 The biggest fires

9 fires · $92K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in McCormick County during 2025. These 9 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $50,000 McCormick Building fires Significant
2 $18,000 McCormick Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
3 $10,000 Modoc Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
4 $10,000 Clarks Hill Building fires Significant
5 $1,500 Clarks Hill Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $1,000 McCormick Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
7 $1,000 McCormick Grass fire Significant
8 $750 McCormick Grass fire Significant
9 $1 Plum Branch Fire, other Significant
06 How McCormick County compares

McCormick County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

22.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McCormick County
22.31
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
2.7
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McCormick County
2.7
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
McCormick County
0
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in McCormick County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in McCormick County

1 departments report from this county.

McCormick Co Emergency Service
—
FDID 33301 11 incidents
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.