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2025 County Report

Fires in Limestone County, AL

In 2025, fire departments serving Limestone County responded to 255 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss.

28,038 residents FIPS 01083 60 cities · 2 fire depts
Total incidents
255
835 across 5 years
Building fires
31
44 wildland
Property loss
$1.8M
$1.3M structure · $492K 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 39% of all calls.

255
Total Incidents
Building fires 31 12.2%
Authorized controlled burning 20 7.8%
Grass fire 19 7.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 16 6.3%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 14 5.5%
All other categories 155 60.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Limestone County?

Mar peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 14
Feb 24
Mar 39
Apr 18
May 24
Jun 16
Jul 23
Aug 24
Sep 20
Oct 16
Nov 15
Dec 22
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Limestone County

835 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 13
2022 99
2023 220
2024 248
2025 255
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 31 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
68%
50
Cause undetermined
14%
10
Intentional / arson
4%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
8%
6
Under investigation
7%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
-1%
0
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Limestone County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 80% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 ATHENS Building fires Significant
2 $100,000 City of Athens Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $100,000 Athens Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 City of Athens Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Athens Natural vegetation fire, other Significant
6 $100,000 Athens Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 City of Athens Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
8 $89,000 ATHENS Building fires Significant
9 $75,000 Athens Building fires Significant
10 $50,000 Athens Building fires Significant
06 How Limestone County compares

Limestone County vs AL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.09
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Limestone County
9.09
AL avg
9.37
US avg
7.15
1.11
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Limestone County
1.11
AL avg
1.28
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Limestone County
0
AL avg
11.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Limestone County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 01083.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Limestone County

2 departments report from this county.

Athens FD
Athens
FDID 04401 187 incidents 40 paid
South Limestone VFD
BelleMina
FDID 04411 0 incidents 11 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.