In 2025, fire departments serving Odenville responded to 136 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 52% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
556 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $990K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 56 | — | |
| 2022 | 71 | — | |
| 2023 | 155 | +118.3% | |
| 2024 | 138 | -11.0% | |
| 2025 | 136 | -1.4% |
* Well below Odenville'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 11 building fires Odenville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 228 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 | 52 | 22.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 43 | 18.9% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 27 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 23 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 21 | 9.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 30 | 13.2% |
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 Odenville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 116 | 50.9% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 23 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 18 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Match | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 32 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Odenville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Power line down | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1 | Outside rubbish fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Odenville sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 32,996 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 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 48.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 14.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 40.5 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 Odenville. 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.