In 2025, fire departments serving Leeds responded to 129 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $166K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
500 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 136 | — | |
| 2023 | 104 | -23.5% | |
| 2024 | 122 | +17.3% | |
| 2025 | 129 | +5.7% |
* Well below Leeds'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 7 building fires Leeds departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 185 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 | 67 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 25 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 18 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 16.8% |
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 Leeds mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 114 | 61.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 6 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 4 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 3 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 16 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Leeds departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $165,570 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Leeds sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,422 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 4.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 10.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 38.9 mi |
Top 6 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 Leeds. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Leeds.
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.