In 2025, fire departments across Alabama responded to 31,466 fire and hazmat incidents — including the 426 B wildfire that burned 2,672 acres in 2019.
Alabama ranks #31 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Building fires lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 41% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Mar peaks across the window; Aug dips.
150,437 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 17,921 | |
| 2022 | 29,208 | |
| 2023 | 35,976 | |
| 2024 | 35,866 | |
| 2025 | 31,466 |
For the 4,280 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 32,933 | 12,960 / 19,973 | 196,796 | |
| 2 | Arson / incendiarism | 32,557 | 23,629 / 8,928 | 462,858 | |
| 3 | Debris & open burning | 24,673 | 24,673 / 0 | 245,560 | |
| 4 | Equipment & vehicle use | 8,437 | 3,903 / 4,534 | 35,102 | |
| 5 | Recreation & ceremony | 4,029 | 4,029 / 0 | 33,822 | |
| 6 | Natural (lightning) | 2,919 | 1,429 / 1,490 | 51,401 | |
| 7 | Smoking | 1,463 | 1,463 / 0 | 8,835 | |
| 8 | Railroad operations | 1,171 | 1,171 / 0 | 10,725 | |
| 9 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,076 | 1,076 / 0 | 6,971 | |
| 10 | Other causes | 804 | 157 / 647 | 801 | |
| 11 | Power generation / utility | 283 | 283 / 0 | 2,721 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 60 | 60 / 0 | 889 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 43,338 | $5.5M | 2 | |
| 2 | Building fires | 34,812 | $404.3M | 195 | |
| 3 | Wildland fires | 29,283 | $2.9M | 2 | |
| 4 | Electrical / wiring | 17,978 | $110.5M | 0 | |
| 5 | Vehicle fires | 14,621 | $199.0M | 31 | |
| 6 | Rubbish / refuse | 13,180 | $2.8M | 0 | |
| 7 | Gas leaks | 12,467 | $62K | 0 | |
| 8 | Arson | 4,811 | $1.0B | 3 | |
| 9 | Cooking-related | 4,500 | $1.1M | 0 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 47% of Alabama's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000,000 | MONTGOMERY | Electrical wiring/equipment problem, other | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $2,000,000 | Mobile | Building fires | Major |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | MONTGOMERY | Building fires | Major |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | MONTGOMERY | Building fires | Major |
| 5 | $2,000,000 | MONTGOMERY | Building fires | Major |
| 6 | $1,500,000 | Tuscumbia | Building fires | Major |
| 7 | $1,000,000 | Birmingham | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major |
| 8 | $1,000,000 | Birmingham | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major |
| 9 | $1,000,000 | IRONDALE | Building fires | Major |
| 10 | $1,000,000 | MONTGOMERY | Building fires | Major |
Per-capita rates let us compare Alabama apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Jefferson County | 6,020 | 631,075 |
| 2 | Mobile County | 2,667 | 279,861 |
| 3 | Montgomery County | 2,041 | 209,470 |
| 4 | Calhoun County | 1,837 | 89,430 |
| 5 | Madison County | 1,711 | 309,048 |
| 6 | Baldwin County | 1,271 | 139,659 |
| 7 | Tuscaloosa County | 991 | 154,273 |
| 8 | Shelby County | 844 | 165,366 |
| 9 | Etowah County | 828 | 87,407 |
| 10 | St. Clair County | 768 | 53,704 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Calhoun County | 20.54 | 1,837 | 89,430 | |
| 2 | St. Clair County | 14.30 | 768 | 53,704 | |
| 3 | Montgomery County | 9.74 | 2,041 | 209,470 | |
| 4 | Jefferson County | 9.54 | 6,020 | 631,075 | |
| 5 | Mobile County | 9.53 | 2,667 | 279,861 | |
| 6 | Etowah County | 9.47 | 828 | 87,407 | |
| 7 | Marshall County | 9.20 | 484 | 52,620 | |
| 8 | Baldwin County | 9.10 | 1,271 | 139,659 | |
| 9 | Morgan County | 7.47 | 611 | 81,836 | |
| 10 | Elmore County | 7.00 | 350 | 50,014 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
233 perimeters and 36,539 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000s | 10 | 4,798 | |
| 2010s | 114 | 19,760 | |
| 2020s | 109 | 11,981 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 22,618 | |
| 2000s | 31,075 | |
| 2010s | 20,358 | |
| 2020s | 782 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 74,833 ignitions total.
794 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 40 | |
| 10-19 | 37 | |
| 20-29 | 94 | |
| 30-39 | 107 | |
| 40-49 | 113 | |
| 50-59 | 115 | |
| 60-69 | 97 | |
| 70-79 | 57 | |
| 80+ | 41 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.