In 2025, fire departments serving Cordova responded to 131 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Accident, potential accident, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
342 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $610K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 45 | — | |
| 2022 | 62 | +37.8% | |
| 2023* | 34 | — | |
| 2024 | 70 | — | |
| 2025 | 131 | +87.1% |
* Well below Cordova'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 15 building fires Cordova departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 189 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 | 90 | 47.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 22 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 17 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Corridor, mall | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 9.5% |
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 Cordova mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 122 | 64.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Cordova departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cordova sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 23,748 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 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 41.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 11.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 29.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 21.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 12.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 10.2 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 Cordova. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cordova.
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.