In 2025, fire departments serving Jemison responded to 154 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K 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 66% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
648 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $722K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 85 | — | |
| 2022 | 118 | +38.8% | |
| 2023 | 131 | +11.0% | |
| 2024 | 160 | +22.1% | |
| 2025 | 154 | -3.8% |
For the 15 building fires Jemison departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 222 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 | 76 | 34.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 11.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 22 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 13 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 14.4% |
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 Jemison mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 148 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 6.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Jemison departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 95% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Jemison sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,639 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 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 15.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 721 | 44.2 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 6.3 mi |
Top 7 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 Jemison. 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.