Arborlook
Risk & Response
by Arborlook Insights

Lancaster County, SC

Community risk profile | NRI Score: 67.3 Relatively High

104,475
Population
23
Departments
402
Stations
22
Census Tracts

Natural Hazard Loss Profile

Expected annual loss across the 18 natural hazards in FEMA's National Risk Index. Life safety is expressed in fatality-equivalents, combining expected deaths and injuries. Property loss counts building damage only, separate from agriculture.

Natural Hazard Life Safety
1.07
expected fatality-equivalents per year, natural hazards only
13th highest of 46
Life Safety per 100k
1.03
natural hazard fatality-equivalents per 100,000 residents
19th highest of 46
Natural Hazard Property Loss
$25.0M
expected building loss per year, natural hazards only
20th highest of 46
Property Loss per Resident
$240
natural hazard building loss per resident per year
32nd highest of 46

These figures cover natural hazards only. Structure fire, EMS, and motor vehicle incidents are not included in the National Risk Index and are not counted here, so this is not an all-cause life safety measure. For Lancaster County, the largest single contributor is Cold Wave, 37% of the life-safety total.

Lancaster County carries an expected 1 natural hazard fatality-equivalents and $25.0M in building loss per year. Rank chips compare the 46 South Carolina counties. Nationally, Lancaster County ranks 554th of 3,222 U.S. counties for life-safety loss, 1690th for life safety per 100k residents, 730th for property loss, and 2413th for property loss per resident. Computed from census tract data covering every resident, independent of fire department boundaries.

Add fire mortality, cause, and loss

Natural hazard exposure is one half of the picture. The other half is what your departments run on: fire deaths and injuries, cause of ignition, dollar loss per incident. That comes from NERIS incident reporting, and it grows as departments serving Lancaster County enroll. Our Regional tier brings it together across your jurisdiction, with participating departments, alongside response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

Talk to us about Lancaster County See what a department sees

What Drives the Loss

62%
37%
Property (buildings): $25.0M (62.4%)
Life safety: $14.7M (36.6%)
Agriculture: $407K (1.0%)

Total expected annual loss: $40,147,146 per year. Life safety is shown here in dollars, at FEMA's $13.7M value of statistical life, so the three shares sum to the total.

Hazards Ranked Two Ways

The hazard that threatens people is often not the hazard that destroys buildings. Both columns cover the same 18 hazards over the same year.

By life-safety loss ($/yr)

Cold Wave
$5.5M
Tornado
$4.5M
Strong Wind
$1.8M
Lightning
$714K
Earthquake
$703K
Heat Wave
$520K

By property loss ($/yr)

Inland Flooding
$20.1M
Tornado
$1.8M
Earthquake
$1.3M
Ice Storm
$763K
Hurricane
$602K
Hail
$225K

Census Tract Risk Map

Shaded by quintile across the census tracts in Lancaster County. Gray tracts have no modeled loss or no resident population. Per-resident figures on this map use the National Risk Index 2020 tract population.

Fire Service Profile

26%
74%
Combination: 26% (6)
Volunteer: 74% (17)
Residents per Station
260
census population per registered station
Stations per 100k
384.8
registered stations per 100,000 residents

Department composition covers the 23 departments registered in NERIS Public for Lancaster County, SC. Departments that have not registered are not counted. Station coverage divides census population by registered stations; department service areas overlap, so their populations are not summed.

Department Rankings

Fire and EMS departments serving Lancaster County. Click column headers to sort.

NRI Rating is from FEMA's National Risk Index, which measures community risk across 18 natural hazards using expected annual losses, social vulnerability, and community resilience. Life-Safety Loss uses FEMA's Value of Statistical Life ($13.7M per expected fatality) to estimate annual risk to human life.

Department boundaries and station counts are self-reported through NERIS Public and may not reflect current service areas. Population and Life-Safety Loss reflect each department's full jurisdiction. County-level risk metrics are computed from census tract data and are not affected by boundary accuracy. See full methodology.

Showing 23 departments
Department Est. Population Life-Safety Loss NRI Rating Stations
Charlotte Road/ Van Wyck Fire Department 31,798 $4.1M Relatively High 22
Indian Land Volunteer Fire Department 27,158 $3.6M Relatively High 22
Fort Mill Fire Department 34,469 $3.0M Relatively High 4
Fairfield County Fire Service 20,254 $2.9M Relatively Moderate 17
Camp Creek Fire Department 15,045 $2.7M Relatively High 22
Rich Hill Fire Department 14,027 $2.3M Relatively High 22
Pleasant Valley Fire Department 19,482 $2.3M Relatively High 1
Buford Volunteer Fire Department 14,338 $2.2M Relatively High 22
Kershaw Fire Department 13,420 $2.1M Relatively Moderate 22
Gooch's Fire Department 14,154 $2.1M Relatively High 22
Shiloh-Zion Volunteer Fire Department 11,998 $1.8M Very High 23
Unity Fire Department 10,216 $1.5M Very High 22
Antioch Fire Department 9,829 $1.5M Relatively High 22
Riverside Fire Department 10,321 $1.3M Relatively High 22
Mcdonald Green Fire Department 8,955 $1.3M Relatively Moderate 22
Flat Creek Fire Department 7,117 $1.1M Relatively Moderate 23
Heath Springs Fire Department 8,869 $1.1M Relatively High 22
Great Falls Fire Department 9,912 $1.1M Relatively Low 1
Fort Lawn Volunteer Fire Department 9,997 $1.1M Relatively Low 1
Lancaster City Fire Department 4,962 $902.4K Relatively High 2
Elgin Fire Department 5,271 $811.4K Relatively High 22
Tradesville Fire Department 4,227 $558.7K Relatively Moderate 22
Bell Town Fire Department 3,646 $477.9K Relatively Moderate 22
No departments match your search.

Risk Snapshot

11.4%
Poverty Rate
21.8%
Age 65+
14.8%
Disability Rate
7.9%
Uninsured
31.4%
Pre-1980 Housing
11.2%
Mobile Homes
8.5%
Vacancy Rate
0.2%
Wood Heat
$86,018
Median HH Income

FEMA Disaster Declarations

15
Last 10 Years
20
Last 25 Years
Hurricane
Most Frequent

Response-level intelligence for your region

Our Regional tier gives county fire authorities and state fire marshals rollup dashboards across all departments in your jurisdiction: response time analytics, cross-department benchmarking, and coverage gap analysis.

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