In 2025, fire departments serving New Market responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 12 | — | |
| 2023 | 29 | +141.7% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -34.5% | |
| 2025 | 14 | -26.3% |
* Well below New Market'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 4 building fires New Market departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 30 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 16.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.0% |
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 New Market mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 39 | 78.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. New Market sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 12,939 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,167 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,010 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 856 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 833 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 787 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 735 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 734 | 49.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 504 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 500 | 38.0 mi |
Top 2 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 New Market. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in New Market.
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.