In 2025, fire departments serving Pelham responded to 135 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $45K 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 51% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
717 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 60 | — | |
| 2022 | 153 | — | |
| 2023 | 172 | +12.4% | |
| 2024 | 197 | +14.5% | |
| 2025 | 135 | -31.5% |
* Well below Pelham'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 Pelham departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 265 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 | 47 | 17.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 43 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 39 | 14.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 32 | 12.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 19 | 7.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 43 | 16.2% |
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 Pelham mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 125 | 47.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 21 | 7.9% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 6.0% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 13 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 10 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Match | 6 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 36 | 13.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pelham departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $45,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pelham sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 27,886 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 20.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 18.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 48.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 890 | 47.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Pelham. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Pelham.
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.