Crime Scene and Trauma Cleanup in Fair Bluff, NC

Fair Bluff is a small town in Columbus County, built along the banks of the Lumber River right on the North Carolina–South Carolina border, at the crossroads of U.S. Highway 76 and N.C. Highway 904.

Fair Bluff was incorporated in 1873, making it one of the oldest towns in Columbus County.

Fair Bluff was once a busy tobacco and lumber town, and warehouses from that heyday still line the railroad through its downtown.

The Lumber River beside Fair Bluff is part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers System, and the town's River Walk along it was completed in 2011.

In October 2016, Hurricane Matthew sent the Lumber River to a record crest of 21.87 feet at Fair Bluff — about three feet above the previous record — putting downtown under two to four feet of water.

Hurricane Florence flooded Fair Bluff again in 2018, submerging the same ground under about four feet of water and destroying the town hall and police and fire stations.

Before the two hurricanes, Fair Bluff had roughly 950 residents in about 440 households; hundreds of residents left after the storms and never returned.

The 2020 census counted just 709 people in Fair Bluff, a decline of about 25 percent over the decade, driven largely by storm-displaced residents.

Fair Bluff has become a national symbol of small-town climate risk, and it is rebuilding on higher ground with a new town hall and police station and an elevated apartment complex.