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2025 County Report

Fires in Calhoun County, AL

In 2025, fire departments serving Calhoun County responded to 1,837 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $170K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

89,430 residents FIPS 01015 66 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
1,837
8,211 across 5 years
Building fires
120
177 wildland
Property loss
$2.5M
$1.7M structure · $846K contents
Casualties
2 / 4
2 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 2 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Aircraft standby lead by count. Top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.

1,837
Total Incidents
Aircraft standby 1,049 57.1%
Building fires 120 6.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 97 5.3%
Fire, other 90 4.9%
Authorized controlled burning 88 4.8%
All other categories 393 21.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Calhoun County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 112
Feb 195
Mar 261
Apr 249
May 186
Jun 182
Jul 122
Aug 12
Sep 152
Oct 234
Nov 131
Dec 1
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Calhoun County

8,211 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,076
2022 1,511
2023 1,940
2024 1,847
2025 1,837
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 120 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
34%
139
Cause undetermined
39%
161
Intentional / arson
18%
72
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
13
Under investigation
5%
21
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $935K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Calhoun County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 55% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $170,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
2 $120,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
3 $120,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Piedmont Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 OXFORD Building fires Significant
6 $90,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
7 $75,000 ANNISTON Passenger vehicle fire Significant
8 $60,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 ANNISTON Building fires Significant
06 How Calhoun County compares

Calhoun County vs AL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.54
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Calhoun County
20.54
AL avg
9.37
US avg
7.15
1.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Calhoun County
1.34
AL avg
1.28
US avg
0.82
22.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Calhoun County
22.4
AL avg
11.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Calhoun County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 01015.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Calhoun County

3 departments report from this county.

Piedmont Fire Department
Piedmont
FDID 01103 77 incidents 4 paid
Jacksonville Fire Department
Jacksonville
FDID 01102 0 incidents 16 paid
White Plains VFD
Piedmont
FDID 01110 0 incidents 15 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AL

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 426 B 2019 USFS 2,671
2 Lake Chinnabee 2016 USFS 2,228
3 742 2019 USFS 1,787
4 Rd07-09 2006 NPS 1,467
5 Big Candle 2019 USFS 1,272
6 Half Way 2016 USFS 1,066
7 LRP NORTHEAST SOUTH RX 2023 NPS 1,026
8 Welcome Home 1 2016 USFS 1,008
9 Road 09-08 WF 2006 NPS 978
10 Caney Head 2016 USFS 932

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.