Update: Corrected acreage on Old Bluff Road fire to 18 acres and damage to $13,000, per the S.C. Forestry Commission.
Fire officials are urging caution as breezy, dry conditions have helped promote some brush and woods fires in the Midlands this week.
A small woods fire was reported to the Lexington County Fire Service on Tuesday morning near Swansea. Overall on Tuesday, six fires were reported to or by the Forestry Commission in the Midlands counties of Lexington, York and Sumter, burning a total of 33 acres. Only one, a 1-acre fire in Sumter County, caused significant property damage. That 2:30 p.m. fire caused $10,000 in damage, according to the Forestry Commission.
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Things were busier on Monday.
In Lexington County, between 30 and 40 acres of woods and brush burned in an afternoon fire that spread from a business on Two Notch Road toward Interstate 20, Fire Service Battalion Chief Chad Wessinger said. A metal shop employee was working with a torch when he accidentally ignited the blaze. Drivers on I-20 could still see smoke from hot spots on Tuesday, he said.
Columbia-Richland Fire Service firefighters Monday were called to brush fires on Old Bluff Road and on Congaree Road, interim Chief Aubrey Jenkins said. Those areas were between 5 and 10 acres.
About 18 acres of woods burned off Old Bluff Road near Hopkins, damaging not just vegetation but a double-wide mobile home, a piece of logging equipment, a truck and several residential yards, the fire service said. The cause was not immediately available, and damage is estimated at about $13,000.
The county fire service also sent firefighters to Congaree Road in Gaston after a homeowner called firefighters around 11:15 a.m. Sparks from a metal-cutting project had ignited grass. According to a fire service report, that fire was limited to woods, grass and stumps.
The Forestry Commission tallied nine wildfires Monday in Fairfield, Kershaw, Lexington, Richland, Sumter and Union counties. They burned a total of 66 acres, including a 25-acre blaze in Kershaw County that caused $87,500 in damage. A smaller fire of 8 acres caused $180,000 in damage in Kershaw County as well.
Here is a rundown of the fires worked by S.C. Forestry Commission crews Monday and Tuesday:
Feb. 14
| County | Time | Size (acres) | Cause | Damage ($) |
|---|
| Fairfield | 12:30 p.m. | 1 | debris burning | 0 |
| Kershaw | 11:59 a.m. | 4 | equipment use | 0 |
| Kershaw | 2:40 p.m. | 8 | equipment use | 180,000 |
| Kershaw | 2:44 p.m. | 25 | campfire | 87,500 |
| Lexington | 4:17 a.m. | 0.8 | debris burning | 0 |
| Richland | 11:45 a.m. | 3 | equipment use | 0 |
| Richland | 1:16 p.m. | 18 | equipment use | 13,000 |
| Sumter | 2:53 p.m. | 5 | misc. | 32,700 |
| Union | 4:31 p.m. | 1.2 | equipment use | 0 |
Feb. 15
| County | Time | Size (acres) | Cause | Damage ($) |
|---|
| Lexington | 4:30 a.m. | 2.5 | equipment use | 0 |
| Lexington | 12:14 p.m. | 0.5 | debris burning | 0 |
| York | 10:49 a.m. | 4 | debris burning | 0 |
| Sumter | 11:09 a.m. | 5 | misc. | 0 |
| Sumter | 2:36 p.m. | 1 | misc. | 10,000 |
| Sumter | 3:38 p.m. | 20 | smoking | 0 |
Historical wildfire data for February
| YEAR | FIRES | ACRES |
|---|
| 1976 | 3,178² | 17,826.7 |
| 1977 | 2,771 | 12,551.4 |
| 1978 | 997 | 3,635.4 |
| 1979 | 735 | 2,938.7 |
| 1980 | 1,284 | 6,670.0 |
| 1981 | 2,711 | 22,342.0 |
| 1982 | 583 | 3,462.6 |
| 1983 | 202 | 688.4 |
| 1984 | 1,218 | 4,778.0 |
| 1985 | 1,245 | 7,256.6 |
| 1986 | 506 | 1,840.6 |
| 1987 | 430 | 2,013.4 |
| 1988 | 1,523 | 10,283.9 |
| 1989 | 1,225 | 8,321.5 |
| 1990 | 520 | 2,287.5 |
| 1991 | 717 | 4,232.7 |
| 1992 | 1,162 | 7,528.5 |
| 1993 | 474 | 2,311.7 |
| 1994 | 787 | 5,805.2 |
| 1995 | 341 | 1,569.8 |
| 1996 | 1,077 | 7,341.7 |
| 1997 | 260 | 907.6 |
| 1998 | 157 | 756.2 |
| 1999 | 877 | 5,522.0 |
| 2000 | 678 | 3,422.4 |
| 2001 | 638 | 3,209.2 |
| 2002 | 1,250 | 13,934.1 |
| 2003 | 207 | 1,007.9 |
| 2004 | 252 | 1,316.0 |
| 2005 | 302 | 1,851.0 |
| 2006 | 241 | 1,138.9 |
| 2007 | 425 | 2,228.9 |
| 2008 | 449 | 4,193.3 |
| 2009 | 545 | 3,645.0 |
| 2010 | 129¹ | 418.7¹ |
| 2011* | 170 | 758.5 |
| 10 Year Avg. | 444 | 3,294.3 |
¹Lowest on record for month of February
²Highest on record for month of February
*as of February 16, 2011
Highest acreage burned in month of February was in 1947 at 119,167.1 acres by 2,418 fires. This was also the most acreage burned in a single month on record.
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