In 2025, fire departments serving Madison responded to 267 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $459K 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 45% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,144 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.0B cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 175 | — | |
| 2022 | 226 | +29.1% | |
| 2023 | 222 | -1.8% | |
| 2024 | 254 | +14.4% | |
| 2025 | 267 | +5.1% |
For the 20 building fires Madison departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 468 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 | Outside area, other | 111 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 55 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 50 | 10.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 40 | 8.5% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 35 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Other | 17 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 113 | 24.1% |
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 Madison mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 170 | 36.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 33 | 7.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 26 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 25 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 23 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 19 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 15 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 83 | 17.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Madison departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $458,600 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $140,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $87,225 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $85,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Madison sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
9 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 11,287 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,003 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,014 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 479 | 37.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 21.6 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 330 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 327 | 38.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 305 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1992 | Arson/incendiarism | 291 | 43.1 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 Madison. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Madison.
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.