In 2025, fire departments serving Owens Cross Roads responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 65% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
133 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 2 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 48 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | -4.2% | |
| 2025 | 23 | -50.0% |
* Well below Owens Cross Roads'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 0 building fires Owens Cross Roads departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 8 | 19.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 7 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 10 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 12.2% |
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 Owens Cross Roads mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15 | 36.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 12.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Owens Cross Roads sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 17,417 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,636 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,163 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 1,010 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 919 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 900 | 49.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 856 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 833 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 26.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 550 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 510 | 23.1 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 | 35763 | 133 |
Six Alabama cities with population within ±25% of Owens Cross Roads. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Owens Cross Roads.
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.