In 2025, fire departments serving Fultondale responded to 73 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
377 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $623K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 97 | — | |
| 2022 | 75 | -22.7% | |
| 2023 | 88 | +17.3% | |
| 2024* | 44 | — | |
| 2025 | 73 | — |
* Well below Fultondale'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 2 building fires Fultondale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 167 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 | 28 | 16.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 23 | 13.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 12.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 8.4% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 27 | 16.2% |
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 Fultondale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 76 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 17 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Match | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 7 | 4.2% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fultondale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fultondale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,861 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 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 43.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 26.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 16.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 40.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 631 | 42.8 mi |
Top 5 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 Fultondale. 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.