In 2025, fire departments serving Meridianville responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
183 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 27 | — | |
| 2022 | 53 | +96.3% | |
| 2023 | 47 | -11.3% | |
| 2024* | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 38 | — |
* Well below Meridianville'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 3 building fires Meridianville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 99 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 16 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 12 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 10 | 10.1% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 15 | 15.2% |
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 Meridianville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 46 | 46.5% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 8.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 6 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Fireworks | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Meridianville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,763 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,010 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 856 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 833 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 735 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 400 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 385 | 33.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 330 | 40.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 35759 | 183 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Meridianville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Meridianville.
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.