ZIP 35242 recorded 223 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 1,298 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Jefferson County, AL. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
1,298 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 247 | |
| 2022 | 189 | |
| 2023 | 282 | |
| 2024 | 357 | |
| 2025 | 223 |
Jan peaks. Sep dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 35242 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 177 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Building fires | 140 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 99 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Cooking fire, confined to container | 81 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hazardous condition, other | 81 | 6.2% |
For the 26 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 35242 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 12.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 44 | 12.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 40 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 36 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 31 | 8.9% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 28 | 8.0% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 13 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Other | 11 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 102 | 29.1% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 132 | 37.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 40 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 28 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 22 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 17 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 68 | 19.4% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 35242 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 261% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 2 | $900,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 3 | $650,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Major |
| 5 | $400,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Major |
| 6 | $400,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 7 | $400,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 8 | $345,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 35242.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Birmingham | 900 | |
| 2 | Hoover | 200 | |
| 3 | Vestavia Hills | 101 | |
| 4 | Mountain Brook | 4 | |
| 5 | Leeds | 2 |
Some ZIPs span multiple counties. The primary above is the largest by population weight; secondary counties are below.
| County | State | Weight | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Shelby County | AL | 0.50 | FIPS 01117 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 1,298 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.