Moving firewood in South Carolina: regulation 27-58, the Asian longhorned beetle quarantine and the Charleston County areas

This page reports what the official source says. It is not legal advice: ask the office named here. It follows regulation 27-58 in Chapter 27 of the South Carolina Code of Regulations, the Clemson Department of Plant Industry's pages on regulated areas and quarantines, and the South Carolina Forestry Commission, all read October 9, 2026.

Who writes the rules

The Department of Plant Industry's regulated areas page says that under South Carolina Code of Laws Title 46 Chapter 9 the State Crop Pest Commission may make and enforce regulations to eradicate or prevent the spread of plant pests, including quarantines, and that Chapter 27 of the Code of Regulations, headed Clemson University, sets out the quarantines for designated plant pests. The Chapter 27 PDF on the state legislature's site carries the text.

The Asian longhorned beetle quarantine, regulation 27-58

The regulated areas page says two portions of Charleston and Dorchester Counties are under a state quarantine established July 7, 2021 and modified August 23, 2026: a Hollywood quarantine, covering parts of Hollywood, Ravenel and Charleston in Charleston and Dorchester Counties, and a Mount Pleasant quarantine in Charleston County. It says the quarantine stays in effect until further notice and gives each boundary as a list of roads, creeks and coordinates. The regulation itself says the regulated areas are kept on a public list on Clemson's invasive species page.

The Clemson quarantine spotlights page prints the regulation. The Code of Regulations lists it as Article 5D, section 27-58.

Section	What it says
58.1 Definitions	Firewood means wooden material less than four feet in length that is gathered and used for fuel when the species present are not labelled or readily identifiable. A quarantined area is the area set by the State Crop Pest Commission to isolate all known occurrences of the beetle in one place.
58.2 Regulated articles	The beetle in any life stage; firewood of all hardwood species; and green lumber and other material, living, dead, cut or fallen, including nursery stock, logs, stumps, roots, branches and debris of half an inch or more in diameter, of listed genera: maple, horse chestnut, mimosa, birch, katsura, ash, golden rain tree, sycamore, poplar, willow, mountain ash and elm, plus any genus the department or USDA APHIS confirms as a host. An inspector can name any other article that presents a risk, after telling the person who holds it.
58.3 Movement	Regulated articles may not at any time move from quarantined parts of South Carolina or any other state into or through non-quarantined parts without a state or federal certificate or compliance agreement. They may move from quarantined into quarantined parts without one, provided no other state or federal provision prevents it. Scientific movement needs a scientific permit attached.
58.4 Movement documents	An inspector issues a certificate when the beetle is not apparently present and the risk of movement out of the quarantined area has been mitigated. Compliance agreements can be required. Documents must accompany the shipment, with the consignor and consignee named on the articles, and an inspector can cancel a certificate or agreement orally or in writing for non-compliance.
58.5 Inspection and disposal	A properly identified inspector may stop and inspect, without a warrant, any person or means of conveyance moving within or from the state on probable cause to believe non-permitted or non-certified regulated articles are present, and may seize, destroy or otherwise dispose of articles moving in violation.
58.6 to 58.8	Areas can be removed from regulation once satisfactory evidence shows the beetle has been eradicated. The commission disclaims liability for inspection or treatment costs other than its own services.

The Code of Regulations prints no penalty section inside Article 5D. Several other articles of Chapter 27 carry their own penalty sections, so a penalty for this quarantine is listed here as not published.

The fire ant quarantine

The regulated areas page says all of South Carolina is under the imported red fire ant quarantine, Article 9 of Chapter 27. The regulated articles in section 27-121 are the ant itself, soil, rooted plants with soil attached, grass sod, hay and straw, and used mechanized soil-moving equipment, with a catch-all for other articles an officer finds a hazard. Firewood is not named in that list.

What the Forestry Commission says

On firewood, the Forestry Commission page is advice, not a rule. It urges firewood grown and cut within 50 miles of where it will be burned, names the emerald ash borer, redbay ambrosia beetle, Asian longhorned beetle, walnut twig beetle and gypsy moth as pests that travel in or on firewood, and says moved firewood is best burned completely. It also links a firewood vendor search tool for the state.

Not published

A South Carolina rule on moving firewood outside the two Charleston County quarantine areas: no official page found on October 9, 2026.
Penalties under regulation 27-58: not published inside the article.

For other states and provinces see the table on moving wood and firewood.