In 2025, fire departments serving Clanton responded to 282 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,153 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 145 | — | |
| 2022 | 173 | +19.3% | |
| 2023 | 293 | +69.4% | |
| 2024 | 260 | -11.3% | |
| 2025 | 282 | +8.5% |
For the 59 building fires Clanton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 416 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 | 123 | 29.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 54 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 50 | 12.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 35 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 33 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Other | 15 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 6 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 74 | 17.8% |
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 Clanton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 245 | 58.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 35 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 19 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 12 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 31 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clanton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $263,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clanton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 21,351 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 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 19.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 14.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 600 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 570 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 525 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 502 | 16.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Clanton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clanton.
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.