In 2025, fire departments serving Taylor responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Prescribed fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 70% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $357K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023 | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 17 | +0.0% | |
| 2025 | 20 | +17.6% |
* Well below Taylor'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 1 building fires Taylor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 22 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 | 11 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 5 | 22.7% | |
| 3 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Structural area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 4.5% |
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 Taylor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 54.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 9.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Taylor departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Taylor sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,386 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Arson/incendiarism | 672 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Arson/incendiarism | 566 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Debris and open burning | 563 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 476 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 352 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1999 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 320 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 316 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 312 | 7.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 311 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 290 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 270 | 42.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 250 | 49.2 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 Taylor. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Taylor.
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.