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In 2025, fire departments serving Aurora responded to 1,717 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.3M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
8,851 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $315.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,769 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,997 | +12.9% | |
| 2023 | 1,508 | -24.5% | |
| 2024 | 1,860 | +23.3% | |
| 2025 | 1,717 | -7.7% |
For the 111 building fires Aurora departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,361 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 427 | 18.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 275 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 209 | 8.9% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 203 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 177 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 168 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 84 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 79 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 66 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 57 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 616 | 26.1% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Aurora mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 926 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 319 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 213 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 182 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 115 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 80 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 67 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 57 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 46 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 43 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 313 | 13.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Aurora departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 44% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $400,000 | Construction or demolition landfill fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $350,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $300,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Aurora sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
36 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 15 | |
| 40-49 | 11 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 111,515 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 47.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 32.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 46.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,008 | 33.5 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Aurora. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Aurora.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.