In 2025, fire departments serving Florence responded to 339 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,175 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $420K cumulative property loss. 4 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 194 | — | |
| 2022 | 150 | -22.7% | |
| 2023 | 245 | +63.3% | |
| 2024 | 247 | +0.8% | |
| 2025 | 339 | +37.2% |
For the 54 building fires Florence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 621 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 | Outside area, other | 166 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 83 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 81 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 51 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Other | 25 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 16 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 120 | 19.3% |
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 Florence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 285 | 45.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 54 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 48 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 35 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 26 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 74 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Florence departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,100 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Florence sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,171 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 34.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 706 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 585 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 520 | 18.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 516 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 479 | 45.4 mi |
Top 7 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 Florence. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Florence.
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.