In 2025, fire departments serving Hokes Bluff responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $70K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
244 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $385K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 22 | — | |
| 2022 | 62 | — | |
| 2023 | 54 | -12.9% | |
| 2024 | 42 | -22.2% | |
| 2025 | 64 | +52.4% |
* Well below Hokes Bluff'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 3 building fires Hokes Bluff departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 134 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 | 41 | 30.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 13 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 12 | 9.0% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 9.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 8.2% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Function area, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 14.9% |
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 Hokes Bluff mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 47.0% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 11 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Candle | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 10 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hokes Bluff departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $70,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $4,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,500 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hokes Bluff sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 34,504 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 26.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 10.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 13.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,448 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 42.9 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 | 35903 | 244 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Hokes Bluff. 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.