In 2025, fire departments serving Gardendale responded to 40 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Passenger vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 40% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
112 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $113K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022 | 59 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 40 | — |
* Well below Gardendale'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 Gardendale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 14 | 25.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 11 | 20.4% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 13.0% |
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 Gardendale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 29 | 53.7% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gardendale departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gardendale sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 22,880 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 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 40.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 17.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 39.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 16.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 43.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 631 | 42.1 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35071 | 112 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Gardendale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gardendale.
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.