In 2025, fire departments serving Talladega responded to 296 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $60K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,412 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $135K cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 226 | — | |
| 2022 | 268 | +18.6% | |
| 2023 | 310 | +15.7% | |
| 2024 | 312 | +0.6% | |
| 2025 | 296 | -5.1% |
For the 54 building fires Talladega departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 887 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 | 222 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 112 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 88 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 77 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 66 | 7.4% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 6.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 35 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 25 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Other | 18 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 16 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 171 | 19.3% |
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 Talladega mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 555 | 62.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 49 | 5.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 36 | 4.1% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 35 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 28 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 24 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 22 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 21 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 17 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 14 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 86 | 9.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Talladega departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $60,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Talladega sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
18 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 3 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 31,068 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,321 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 14.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 27.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 25.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 11.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 932 | 15.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Talladega. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
3 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Talladega.
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.