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2025 County Report

Fires in Choctaw County, AL

In 2025, fire departments serving Choctaw County responded to 52 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $10K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Moderate.

5,197 residents FIPS 01023 54 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
52
328 across 5 years
Building fires
3
20 wildland
Property loss
$11K
$11K structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.

52
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 21.2%
Passenger vehicle fire 7 13.5%
Grass fire 7 13.5%
Fire, other 6 11.5%
Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire 4 7.7%
All other categories 17 32.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Choctaw County?

Aug peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 4
Feb 5
Mar 3
Apr 5
May 6
Jun 5
Jul 2
Aug 9
Sep 7
Oct 3
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Choctaw County

328 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 41
2022 82
2023 77
2024 76
2025 52
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
0%
0
Cause undetermined
71%
5
Intentional / arson
14%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $11K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Choctaw County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $10,000 needham Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $500 Butler Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Choctaw County compares

Choctaw County vs AL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

10.01
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Choctaw County
10.01
AL avg
9.37
US avg
7.15
0.58
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Choctaw County
0.58
AL avg
1.28
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Choctaw County
0
AL avg
11.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Choctaw County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 01023.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Choctaw County

1 departments report from this county.

New Hope VFD
Needham
FDID 01510 20 incidents 14 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.