In 2025, fire departments serving Attalla responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
288 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.3M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 83 | — | |
| 2024 | 95 | +14.5% | |
| 2025 | 82 | -13.7% |
* Well below Attalla'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 10 building fires Attalla departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 212 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 | 43 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 38 | 17.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 5.2% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 16.5% |
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 Attalla mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 38.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Match | 16 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 13 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 10 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 6 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 25 | 11.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Attalla departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $16,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Attalla sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,309 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 40.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 20.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,448 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 41.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 27.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 45.0 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 Attalla. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Attalla.
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.