In 2025, fire departments serving Dozier responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 67% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
25 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $80K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023 | 5 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 18 | — |
* Well below Dozier'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 4 building fires Dozier departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 11.1% |
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 Dozier mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dozier departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dozier sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,159 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 745 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 678 | 12.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Arson/incendiarism | 600 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 589 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 566 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 565 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 551 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Arson/incendiarism | 537 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 500 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 478 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 471 | 49.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Dozier. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.