In 2025, fire departments serving Pike Road responded to 24 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Pike Road's departments reported 24 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 43 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
214 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $191K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 43 | — | |
| 2022 | 55 | +27.9% | |
| 2023 | 53 | -3.6% | |
| 2024 | 39 | -26.4% | |
| 2025* | 24 | — |
* Well below Pike Road'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 1 building fires Pike Road departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 120 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 | 25 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 19 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 17 | 14.2% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 11.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 11.7% |
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 Pike Road mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 55 | 45.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Lightning | 4 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 10.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pike Road departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pike Road sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 9,786 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 12.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 565 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 504 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 481 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 480 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Arson/incendiarism | 471 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 450 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 400 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 387 | 11.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 375 | 49.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Arson/incendiarism | 362 | 42.8 mi |
Top 3 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 Pike Road. 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.