In 2025, fire departments serving Selma responded to 150 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 65% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
213 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $587K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 3 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 54 | — | |
| 2025 | 150 | +177.8% |
* Well below Selma'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 44 building fires Selma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 136 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 | 59 | 43.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Other | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 9 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 16.9% |
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 Selma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 88 | 64.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 10 | 7.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated heat from another fire | 7 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 3.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Selma departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 71% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $12,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Selma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 18,517 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 721 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 657 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 565 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1993 | Arson/incendiarism | 525 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Arson/incendiarism | 475 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 441 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 425 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 413 | 43.1 mi |
Top 7 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 Selma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Selma.
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.