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In 2025, fire departments serving Black Forest responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
276 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $988K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 23 | — | |
| 2022* | 30 | — | |
| 2023* | 32 | — | |
| 2024 | 113 | — | |
| 2025 | 78 | -31.0% |
* Well below Black Forest's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 7 building fires Black Forest departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | Undetermined | 6 | 19.4% | |
| 2 | Other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 16.1% |
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 Black Forest mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 38.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 2 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Black Forest departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Black Forest sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 324,512 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 137,760 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 42,795 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,947 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 6.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,636 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,064 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,355 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,328 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,000 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,528 | 49.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Black Forest. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.