In 2025, fire departments serving Harvest responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
132 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $146K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 35 | — | |
| 2024 | 45 | +28.6% | |
| 2025 | 32 | -28.9% |
* Well below Harvest'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 9 building fires Harvest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 28 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 | 6 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 14.3% |
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 Harvest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 39.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Harvest departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harvest sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,043 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,010 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 833 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 479 | 46.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 31.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 330 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 327 | 44.8 mi | |
| 1995 | Smoking | 250 | 9.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 250 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 248 | 46.7 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 Harvest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Harvest.
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.