In 2025, fire departments across South Carolina responded to 47,651 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Turn Table wildfire that burned 1,695 acres in 2017.
South Carolina ranks #32 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 44% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Aug dips.
269,198 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51,221 | |
| 2022 | 56,461 | |
| 2023 | 53,705 | |
| 2024 | 60,160 | |
| 2025 | 47,651 |
For the 6,851 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 59,815 | 30,407 / 29,408 | 194,297 | |
| 2 | Debris & open burning | 28,538 | 28,538 / 0 | 177,522 | |
| 3 | Arson / incendiarism | 26,103 | 15,428 / 10,675 | 139,253 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 12,542 | 4,398 / 8,144 | 21,544 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 4,355 | 2,206 / 2,149 | 29,330 | |
| 6 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 3,274 | 3,274 / 0 | 7,957 | |
| 7 | Other causes | 2,128 | 318 / 1,810 | 713 | |
| 8 | Smoking | 1,660 | 1,660 / 0 | 7,874 | |
| 9 | Power generation / utility | 573 | 573 / 0 | 2,696 | |
| 10 | Railroad operations | 558 | 558 / 0 | 3,562 | |
| 11 | Recreation & ceremony | 543 | 543 / 0 | 18,397 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 145 | 145 / 0 | 1,613 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 79,931 | $14.1M | 9 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 64,545 | $841.2M | 314 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 51,568 | $11.3M | 8 | |
| 4 | Electrical / wiring | 38,081 | $2.0M | 0 | |
| 5 | Gas leaks | 23,820 | $1.0M | 0 | |
| 6 | Vehicle fires | 23,183 | $274.7M | 65 | |
| 7 | Rubbish / refuse | 18,816 | $103.8M | 1 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 7,860 | $1.4M | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 2,949 | $8.3M | 4 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of South Carolina's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000,000 | GREENWOOD | Garbage dump or sanitary landfill fire | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $20,000,000 | Myrtle Beach | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $4,000,000 | Folly Beach | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $3,000,000 | Fripp Island | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,700,000 | GREENVILLE | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $2,500,000 | Bluffton | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | Sullivans Island | Building fires | Major |
| 8 | $2,000,000 | Sullivans Island | Building fires | Major |
| 9 | $2,000,000 | EDISTO ISLAND | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,999,000 | Leesville | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare South Carolina apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Greenville County | 4,186 | 313,396 |
| 2 | Charleston County | 3,537 | 393,061 |
| 3 | Spartanburg County | 3,339 | 123,782 |
| 4 | Horry County | 3,299 | 184,232 |
| 5 | Richland County | 2,909 | 230,853 |
| 6 | York County | 2,184 | 163,620 |
| 7 | Anderson County | 1,884 | 85,502 |
| 8 | Lexington County | 1,680 | 120,645 |
| 9 | Orangeburg County | 1,663 | 30,154 |
| 10 | Beaufort County | 1,581 | 115,646 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spartanburg County | 26.97 | 3,339 | 123,782 | |
| 2 | Pickens County | 23.98 | 1,526 | 63,648 | |
| 3 | Sumter County | 23.47 | 1,542 | 65,712 | |
| 4 | Dorchester County | 22.84 | 1,276 | 55,858 | |
| 5 | Anderson County | 22.03 | 1,884 | 85,502 | |
| 6 | Florence County | 19.71 | 1,059 | 53,731 | |
| 7 | Aiken County | 18.56 | 1,568 | 84,466 | |
| 8 | Horry County | 17.91 | 3,299 | 184,232 | |
| 9 | Lexington County | 13.93 | 1,680 | 120,645 | |
| 10 | Beaufort County | 13.67 | 1,581 | 115,646 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | 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 |
164 perimeters and 31,352 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 2 | 7 | |
| 2010s | 122 | 27,087 | |
| 2020s | 40 | 4,258 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 34,867 | |
| 2000s | 34,334 | |
| 2010s | 18,206 | |
| 2020s | 645 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 88,052 ignitions total.
1,801 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 62 | |
| 10-19 | 93 | |
| 20-29 | 306 | |
| 30-39 | 259 | |
| 40-49 | 222 | |
| 50-59 | 163 | |
| 60-69 | 175 | |
| 70-79 | 109 | |
| 80+ | 65 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.