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2025 County Report

Fires in Williamsburg County, SC

In 2025, fire departments serving Williamsburg County responded to 550 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $750K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

4,823 residents FIPS 45089 55 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
550
2,862 across 5 years
Building fires
64
162 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$1.8M structure · $748K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 1 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.

550
Total Incidents
Building fires 64 11.6%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 60 10.9%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 60 10.9%
Accident, potential accident, other 58 10.5%
Grass fire 40 7.3%
All other categories 268 48.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Williamsburg County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 68
Feb 54
Mar 96
Apr 49
May 51
Jun 44
Jul 38
Aug 21
Sep 48
Oct 31
Nov 31
Dec 19
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Williamsburg County

2,862 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 561
2022 707
2023 486
2024 558
2025 550
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 64 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
63%
185
Cause undetermined
16%
46
Intentional / arson
6%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
12
Under investigation
7%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Williamsburg County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 83% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $750,000 HEMINGWAY Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
2 $225,000 HEMINGWAY Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
3 $110,000 Hemingway Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 KINGSTREE Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 NESMITH Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
6 $68,600 HEMINGWAY Building fires Significant
7 $50,000 KINGSTREE Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other Significant
8 $45,000 SALTERS Building fires Significant
9 $40,000 SALTERS Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence Significant
10 $40,000 KINGSTREE Building fires Significant
06 How Williamsburg County compares

Williamsburg County vs SC vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

114.04
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Williamsburg County
114.04
SC avg
18.56
US avg
7.15
13.27
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Williamsburg County
13.27
SC avg
2.67
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Williamsburg County
0
SC avg
23.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Williamsburg County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 45089.

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.