In 2025, fire departments serving Samson responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
134 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | — | |
| 2023 | 28 | +12.0% | |
| 2024 | 28 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 42 | +50.0% |
* Well below Samson'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 8 building fires Samson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | 50 | 65.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 3.9% |
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 Samson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 65 | 85.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 6 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 7 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 1 | 1.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Samson sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,861 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 | 2,800 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 1,200 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 1,100 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,035 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 800 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 720 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 700 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Arson/incendiarism | 678 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 589 | 18.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Samson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Samson.
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.