In 2025, fire departments serving Auburn responded to 245 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 50% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,888 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $700 cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 304 | — | |
| 2022 | 441 | +45.1% | |
| 2023 | 427 | -3.2% | |
| 2024 | 471 | +10.3% | |
| 2025 | 245 | -48.0% |
For the 11 building fires Auburn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 392 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 79 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 58 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 52 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 27 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 106 | 27.0% |
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 Auburn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 134 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 46 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 44 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 32 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 31 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 20 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 45 | 11.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Auburn sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,787 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 504 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 481 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 480 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 471 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 465 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 20.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 22.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 387 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 375 | 31.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Auburn. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Auburn.
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.