In 2025, fire departments serving Richland County responded to 2,909 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips.
16,860 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,567 | |
| 2022 | 3,374 | |
| 2023 | 3,035 | |
| 2024 | 3,975 | |
| 2025 | 2,909 |
For the 357 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Largest single-incident property losses in Richland County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 33% of the county's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 2 | $1,000,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $500,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $500,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $500,000 | BLYTHEWOOD | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $480,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $437,600 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $364,000 | BLYTHEWOOD | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $354,900 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $300,000 | COLUMBIA | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 45079.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Columbia | 136,754 | View › |
| St. Andrews | 21,909 | View › |
| Dentsville | 16,399 | View › |
| Irmo | 11,685 | View › |
| Forest Acres | 10,514 | View › |
| Woodfield | 9,466 | View › |
| Lake Murray of Richland | 6,914 | View › |
| Blythewood | 4,890 | View › |
| Capitol View | 3,491 | View › |
| Arthurtown | 3,007 | View › |
| Hopkins | 1,738 | View › |
| Gadsden | 1,373 | View › |
1 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.