In 2025, fire departments serving Bessemer responded to 615 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $900K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,496 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $9.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 334 | — | |
| 2022 | 497 | +48.8% | |
| 2023 | 466 | -6.2% | |
| 2024 | 584 | +25.3% | |
| 2025 | 615 | +5.3% |
For the 82 building fires Bessemer departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,055 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 | 554 | 52.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 107 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 65 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 37 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 31 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 25 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 24 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 17 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 140 | 13.3% |
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 Bessemer mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 825 | 78.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 46 | 4.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 42 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 19 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 15 | 1.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 0.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Match | 5 | 0.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bessemer departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $900,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $45,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bessemer sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,957 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 | 7.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 30.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 28.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 721 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 17.4 mi |
Top 10 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 Bessemer. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bessemer.
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.