In 2025, fire departments serving Prattville responded to 264 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 45% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,332 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.2M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 187 | — | |
| 2022 | 323 | +72.7% | |
| 2023 | 256 | -20.7% | |
| 2024 | 302 | +18.0% | |
| 2025 | 264 | -12.6% |
For the 35 building fires Prattville departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 611 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 | 144 | 23.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 87 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 61 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 40 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 38 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 28 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 24 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 22 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Other | 18 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior, exposed surface | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 136 | 22.3% |
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 Prattville mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 274 | 44.8% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 45 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 43 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 42 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 23 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 13 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 82 | 13.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Prattville departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 51% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $90,000 | Special outside fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $80,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $51,630 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prattville sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
21 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 13,966 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,005 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 565 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 502 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 481 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 475 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 450 | 38.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 448 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 410 | 48.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Prattville. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prattville.
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.