In 2025, fire departments serving Chelsea responded to 104 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
454 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 66 | — | |
| 2023 | 101 | +53.0% | |
| 2024 | 136 | +34.7% | |
| 2025 | 104 | -23.5% |
* Well below Chelsea'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 5 building fires Chelsea departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 161 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 | 41 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 13.7% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 13.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 19 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 15.5% |
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 Chelsea mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 84 | 52.2% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 12 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 7 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 9.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Chelsea departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,500 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Chelsea sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,044 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 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 15.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 13.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 5.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 31.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Chelsea. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Chelsea.
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.