In 2025, fire departments serving Hackleburg responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 83% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
136 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | — | |
| 2024 | 40 | +37.9% | |
| 2025 | 42 | +5.0% |
* Well below Hackleburg'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 0 building fires Hackleburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 44 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 | 17 | 38.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 13 | 29.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Multiple areas | 1 | 2.3% |
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 Hackleburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 25 | 56.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 11 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 2.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hackleburg departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hackleburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 16,958 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 | 23.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Smoking | 1,620 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,344 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 706 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 702 | 48.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 631 | 41.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 608 | 18.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 575 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 520 | 22.4 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 | 35564 | 136 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Hackleburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hackleburg.
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.