In 2025, fire departments serving Cottonwood responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Cottonwood's departments reported 20 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 34 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 95% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
170 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 34 | +25.9% | |
| 2023 | 47 | +38.2% | |
| 2024 | 42 | -10.6% | |
| 2025* | 20 | — |
* Well below Cottonwood'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 Cottonwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 133 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 | 52 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 18.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 19 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 5.3% |
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 Cottonwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 90 | 67.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 7.5% | |
| 3 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 7 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 6.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cottonwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 8,733 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 869 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 672 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 563 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 550 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 476 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 421 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 395 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 352 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 350 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 320 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 316 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 312 | 20.0 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 Cottonwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cottonwood.
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.