In 2025, fire departments serving Alexander City responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
378 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $98K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022 | 125 | — | |
| 2023 | 118 | -5.6% | |
| 2024* | 12 | — | |
| 2025 | 120 | — |
* Well below Alexander City's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 31 building fires Alexander City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 137 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 39.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 15 | 10.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 12 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 15.3% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Alexander City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 86 | 62.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 26 | 19.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 4 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Candle | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 2.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alexander City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,710 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 932 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 615 | 31.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 41.5 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Alexander City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Alexander City.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.