Page 45 - Florence County, SC Florence County 2032: Connecting Our Past, Defining Our Future

Existing County | Community Facilities

Fire Protection

7 Fire Districts in Florence County

In addition to municipal fire departments within Florence County and other
special purpose Fire Districts, the Unified Fire District Board consists of seven fire
departments serving areas within Florence County. Council created the Florence
County Fire Unified Protection District in 2014, which accomplishes three
important goals. First, the new fire protection district ensures stringent physical
responsibility and then equalizes taxation throughout the district by charging a
uniform millage for fire protection. Most importantly, the new district
adequately funds the departments providing this vital service to its citizens
ensuring the firefighters are well trained, properly equipped, and meet state and
national standards for fire protection. Florence County Fire covers 630.3 square
miles with a population of 83,606 served by these 7 districts. This includes 32
fire stations and a total of 353 career and volunteer firefighters. These
departments operate 43 engines, 31 tankers, 9 ladder trucks, and 10 rescue
trucks. They also have 13 brush trucks and 34 support vehicles for a total of 130
pieces of apparatus in the fleet. The 2022-2023 budget for the fire protection
district is over $8 million. In 2022, the district answered 6,361 emergency calls.

Fire Department ISO Rating
Olanta Rural Fire Department 4

West Florence Rural Volunteer Fire Department 3
Windy Hill Volunteer Fire Company 3

Hannah Salem-Friendfield Fire Protection District, Inc 4
Sardis-Timmonsville Rural Fire Department 5

Howe Springs Volunteer Fire Company, Inc 4
Johnsonville Fire Department, Inc 3

Ratings are determined by the Insurance Services Office (ISO) ranging from 1 (best) to 10 (worst). ISO measures
the quality of fire protection on which insurance premiums are based. The ISO protection classification ratings can
result in lowered insurance rates for homeowners and business owners. Very few non-municipal fire departments
can achieve a rating higher than 3 and it is important to note that this rating is not the full measure of the
effectiveness of a fire department. Municipal fire departments within Florence County maintain higher ISO
ratings due to a variety of factors.

Florence County, SC | Comprehensive Plan pg. 44