Guide
Fire: what is burning, and burn bans
Checked October 9, 2026 against the South Carolina Forestry Commission and the National Interagency Fire Center.
The Fire tile on a South Carolina board answers two questions: is anything burning near here, and is my county under a burning ban or a Red Flag Fire Alert.
Burning bans and Red Flag Fire Alerts
The South Carolina Forestry Commission (SCFC) announces both in its news releases, statewide or county by county, and announces each lift the same way. The tile reads the titles of those releases in order.
- A State Forester’s Burning Ban “legally prohibits outdoor burning”. It does not apply inside the limits of a city or town, where the town’s own rules apply.
- A Red Flag Fire Alert does not ban burning. SCFC asks everyone to put off outdoor burning while one is in force, and some counties and towns restrict fires under one.
- A release that names the county, or says statewide, all counties or the remaining counties, settles it. One for the Upstate or the Piedmont does not reach the coast. One that gives a number of counties without naming them (“for 33 counties”) shows Check until a later release settles it.
- A lift announced for a day (“to be lifted Tuesday at 8 a.m.”) takes effect that day; the ban stands until then.
- A ban with no lift on SCFC’s page three weeks on shows Check. Call SCFC on 1-800-777-3473.
- No ban does not mean you may burn without telling anyone. Outside city and town limits, South Carolina law requires you to notify the Forestry Commission before any outdoor burn, online or by your county’s toll-free line.
What is burning: the interagency list
The fires on the tile come from the National Interagency Fire Center’s list of current wildfires, the same list the live map draws. The tile shows wildfires in the board’s counties or close enough to matter, and leaves out prescribed burns. A fire that is fully contained drops off a week after it was found.
- It is not every fire. The list holds fires reported to the federal and state fire agencies. Local fire departments put out most woods and marsh fires on this coast without them, and those never reach it. An empty list does not mean nothing is burning.
- Acres and per cent contained are the last figures reported, not live measurements. Contained does not mean out.
- Distance is a straight line from your town to the point the fire was reported from, and it says nothing about where the smoke will go.
Which counties each board shows
- Daufuskie Island to Edisto Beach: Beaufort and Colleton counties.
- Seabrook Island to McClellanville: Charleston County.
- Georgetown to Little River: Georgetown and Horry counties.
A fire just over a county line can still be on the tile, if it is close enough to a town on the board.
If you see a fire
Call 911. Nothing on this site reports a fire to anyone.
Sources
- South Carolina Forestry Commission, bans and alerts — what a burning ban and a Red Flag Fire Alert are
- South Carolina Forestry Commission, news releases — the bans, alerts and lifts the tile reads
- South Carolina Forestry Commission, fire and burning — notifying SCFC before you burn
- National Interagency Fire Center, open data — the current wildfire list (WFIGS incident locations)