In 2025, fire departments serving Wedowee responded to 22 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
160 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $391K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 39 | — | |
| 2023 | 22 | -43.6% | |
| 2024 | 64 | +190.9% | |
| 2025 | 22 | -65.6% |
* Well below Wedowee'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 2 building fires Wedowee departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 82 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 | Outside area, other | 19 | 23.2% | |
| 2 | Other | 16 | 19.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 15 | 18.3% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 5 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Corridor, mall | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 11.0% |
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 Wedowee mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 34 | 41.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 21 | 25.6% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 7.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 4.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wedowee departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wedowee sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 29,195 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 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,108 | 22.1 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,229 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,350 | 41.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,078 | 32.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Recreation and ceremony | 1,066 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 988 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 932 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 867 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 800 | 36.0 mi |
Top 4 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 Wedowee. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wedowee.
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.