In 2025, fire departments serving Double Springs responded to 21 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 76% of all calls.
May peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
59 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $954K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 9 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 19 | — | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 21 | — |
* Well below Double Springs'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 Double Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 24 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 | 10 | 41.7% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.2% |
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 Double Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 17 | 70.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Double Springs departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Double Springs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 20,030 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 12.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 15.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 28.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 706 | 25.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 41.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 631 | 31.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 625 | 46.1 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 Double Springs. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Double Springs.
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.