In 2025, fire departments serving Berry responded to 24 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 79% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
97 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $13K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | +43.3% | |
| 2025 | 24 | -44.2% |
* Well below Berry'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 1 building fires Berry departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 13 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 1 | 3.8% |
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 Berry mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 3.8% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Berry sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,759 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 721 | 46.4 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 30.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 631 | 5.4 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 625 | 35.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35546 | 97 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Berry. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Berry.
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.