In 2025, fire departments serving Saraland responded to 71 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.
Jan peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
574 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 139 | +54.4% | |
| 2023 | 143 | +2.9% | |
| 2024 | 131 | -8.4% | |
| 2025 | 71 | -45.8% |
For the 5 building fires Saraland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 231 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 47 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 24 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 24 | 10.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 23 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 16 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 45 | 19.5% |
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 Saraland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 113 | 48.9% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 31 | 13.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 23 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 24 | 10.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Saraland departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $42,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Arcing, shorted electrical equipment | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Saraland sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
15 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 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 41,399 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Arson/incendiarism | 4,394 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 4,248 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,500 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,332 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 2,100 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,846 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,600 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,594 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 1,555 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,500 | 35.2 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,400 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 1,306 | 41.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Saraland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Saraland.
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.