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2025 County Report

Fires in Franklin County, AL

In 2025, fire departments serving Franklin County responded to 76 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss.

15,537 residents FIPS 01059 35 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
76
627 across 5 years
Building fires
23
18 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$845K structure · $181K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.

76
Total Incidents
Building fires 23 30.3%
Fire, other 11 14.5%
Grass fire 8 10.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 6 7.9%
Passenger vehicle fire 4 5.3%
All other categories 24 31.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Franklin County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 8
Feb 13
Mar 14
Apr 9
May 7
Jun 6
Jul 8
Aug 5
Sep 2
Oct 1
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Franklin County

627 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 96
2022 184
2023 181
2024 90
2025 76
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 23 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
24%
9
Cause undetermined
32%
12
Intentional / arson
8%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
6
Under investigation
18%
7
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $845K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Franklin County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Vina Building fires Major
2 $200,000 Hodges Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 RUSSELLVILLE Building fires Significant
4 $15,000 RUSSELLVILLE Fire, other Significant
5 $10,000 Hodges Building fires Significant
6 $10,000 Vina Building fires Significant
7 $10,000 Vina Building fires Significant
06 How Franklin County compares

Franklin County vs AL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.89
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
4.89
AL avg
9.37
US avg
7.15
1.48
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Franklin County
1.48
AL avg
1.28
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Franklin County
0
AL avg
11.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Franklin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 01059.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Franklin County

1 departments report from this county.

Russellville Fire Dept
Russellville
FDID 03301 37 incidents 21 paid
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.