In 2025, fire departments serving Homewood responded to 161 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 44% of all calls.
May peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
618 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $549K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 93 | — | |
| 2022 | 120 | +29.0% | |
| 2023 | 179 | +49.2% | |
| 2024* | 65 | — | |
| 2025 | 161 | — |
* Well below Homewood'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 11 building fires Homewood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 155 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 22 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 15 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Wall assembly | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 44 | 28.4% |
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 Homewood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 72 | 46.5% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 8.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 13 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 9.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Homewood departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Outside stationary compactor/compacted trash fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Homewood sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,593 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 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 28.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 17.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 20.7 mi |
Top 8 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 Homewood. 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.