In 2025, fire departments serving Vance responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K 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 43% of all calls.
Feb peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
139 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $337K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 24 | — | |
| 2023 | 42 | +75.0% | |
| 2024 | 33 | -21.4% | |
| 2025 | 28 | -15.2% |
* Well below Vance'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 3 building fires Vance departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 106 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 | 44 | 41.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 13.2% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 8 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 6.6% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 11.3% |
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 Vance mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 76 | 71.7% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Match | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 4.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Vance departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Vance sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 26,287 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,950 | 18.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,784 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,590 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,925 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,800 | 39.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,540 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,308 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,262 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,100 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Arson/incendiarism | 721 | 19.6 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 700 | 30.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 660 | 32.7 mi |
Top 9 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 Vance. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Vance.
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.