In 2025, fire departments serving Gulf Shores responded to 112 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $38K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
535 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 94 | — | |
| 2023 | 142 | +51.1% | |
| 2024 | 145 | +2.1% | |
| 2025 | 112 | -22.8% |
* Well below Gulf Shores'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 7 building fires Gulf Shores departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 143 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 | 27 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 15 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Other | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 46 | 32.2% |
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 Gulf Shores mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 12 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Match | 8 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Lightning | 6 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gulf Shores departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $38,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $500 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gulf Shores sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 42,385 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 | 4,490 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,394 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 4,248 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Debris and open burning | 2,215 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2,100 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,846 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,600 | 23.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,594 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,555 | 6.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,306 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,209 | 35.0 mi |
Top 6 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 Gulf Shores. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gulf Shores.
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.