In 2025, fire departments serving Luverne responded to 60 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $53K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
259 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $183K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 42 | — | |
| 2022 | 55 | +31.0% | |
| 2023 | 43 | -21.8% | |
| 2024 | 59 | +37.2% | |
| 2025 | 60 | +1.7% |
For the 7 building fires Luverne departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 160 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 | 32 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 25 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 10.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.4% | |
| 9 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 26 | 16.2% |
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 Luverne mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 78 | 48.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 20 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 5 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 8.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Luverne departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $53,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $4,321 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,500 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Luverne sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,011 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 745 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 678 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 589 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 566 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 565 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 471 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 438 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 408 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 393 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 387 | 47.5 mi |
Top 4 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 Luverne. 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.