Greenville, Pickens counties take home 2025 Barrett Lawrimore Award for Cooperation to contain Table Rock Complex Fire
October 27, 2025
The South Carolina Association of Counties (SCAC) announced Greenville and Pickens counties have won the 2025 Barrett Lawrimore Memorial Regional Cooperation Award for their collaborative efforts in response to the Table Rock Complex Fire earlier this year. The award was given during this year’s SCAC Fall Advocacy Meeting and Institute of Government for County Officials.
The Table Rock Complex Fire in March was the largest recent wildfire in Upstate South Carolina. It began with the fire at Table Rock State Park and was joined by the Persimmon Ridge Fire near Caesars Head State Park. The “Table Rock Wildfire Incident: A Multiagency Coordination Effort” highlighted the importance of regional cooperation to best serve community residents.
“Trust is one of those things that you spend years and years trying to earn, and if you’re not careful, you can lose that in an instant,” said Greenville County Emergency Services Director Pierce Womack. “Both counties working together, I think that was a huge success in trust. The community was able to see that we were trying to do the best that we could, and I think that instilled trust in both counties.”
Fueled by dry weather, steep terrain, strong winds and debris from Hurricane Helene months earlier, the combined fires burned nearly 16,000 acres across Greenville and Pickens counties, eventually crossing state lines into North Carolina. A coordinated multiagency response, involving more than 1,000 personnel from county, state and federal agencies, was able to contain the blaze with no fatalities nor structural losses.
“I’m so pleased and so proud to see everyone pull together like that. It was very heartening,” said Pickens County Administrator Ken Roper. “I hope we don’t face anything like Helene again. I hope we don’t face anything like the Table Rock fire again. I hope that no one in the state does. But if they do, we can pull together and solve that problem. We’ve proved it again and again.”
The Barrett Lawrimore Regional Cooperation Award was established in 1998 to highlight the growing need for regional partnerships, strategies and solutions. Competition for this award is open to two or more political subdivisions – counties or county partnerships formed with city, town, district or regional government organizations – that worked together on a project. The award was renamed in 2005 for Barrett S. Lawrimore, who served as SCAC president in 2004.
“Collaboration among county leaders is an important pillar of our Association, but it is particularly vital during times of crisis,” said SCAC President Mary D. Anderson. “The recent devastation many in our state experienced in the wake of Hurricane Helene proved how necessary it is that we can call upon our neighbors and colleagues during difficult moments. And it is the relationships we build on the good days during events like our Annual Conference or Counties Connect that make that collaboration possible.”
Honorable mention for this year’s award went to the “Tri-County Biological Science Center” project, which was a combined effort of Berkeley, Charleston and Dorchester counties.
Summaries of all award entries can be found on the SCAC website.
SCAC is a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving county government in South Carolina. It is governed by a board of directors composed of county officials from across the state and works to empower its members through advocacy, education and collaboration. Learn more at SCCounties.org.
