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2025 County Report

Fires in Mobile County, AL

In 2025, fire departments serving Mobile County responded to 2,667 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $2.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

279,861 residents FIPS 01097 62 cities · 6 fire depts
Total incidents
2,667
12,710 across 5 years
Building fires
361
368 wildland
Property loss
$16.4M
$10.9M structure · $5.5M contents
Casualties
3 / 8
3 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 6 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

2,667
Total Incidents
Building fires 361 13.5%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 244 9.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 225 8.4%
Passenger vehicle fire 214 8.0%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 211 7.9%
All other categories 1,412 52.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mobile County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 297
Feb 221
Mar 339
Apr 239
May 180
Jun 225
Jul 220
Aug 183
Sep 204
Oct 211
Nov 202
Dec 146
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mobile County

12,710 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,245
2022 3,237
2023 2,838
2024 2,723
2025 2,667
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 361 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
584
Cause undetermined
20%
279
Intentional / arson
27%
376
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
81
Under investigation
3%
41
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
30
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $4.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mobile County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 39% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $2,000,000 Mobile Building fires Major
2 $300,000 Mobile Building fires Major
3 $300,000 MOBILE COUNTY Fires in structures other than in a building Major
4 $295,600 Mobile Building fires Major
5 $260,000 Mobile Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Travis Mobile Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Tillmans Corner Building fires Major
8 $229,500 Theodore Census Desi Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Mobile Building fires Significant
10 $170,000 Belmeade Mobile Building fires Significant
06 How Mobile County compares

Mobile County vs AL vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.53
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mobile County
9.53
AL avg
9.37
US avg
7.15
1.29
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mobile County
1.29
AL avg
1.28
US avg
0.82
10.7
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mobile County
10.7
AL avg
11.3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mobile County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 01097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mobile County

6 departments report from this county.

Mobile FD
Mobile
FDID 00201 1,809 incidents 486 paid
Saraland FD
Saraland
FDID 00205 74 incidents 35 paid
Grand Bay Fire District
Grand Bay
FDID 00214 28 incidents 1 paid 34 vol
Georgetown Fellowship VFD
Chunchula
FDID 00226 7 incidents 22 vol
Oak Grove FD
Chunchula
FDID 00217 0 incidents 12 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.