Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Boulder responded to 768 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $750K 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 51% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,955 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $44.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 801 | — | |
| 2022 | 909 | +13.5% | |
| 2023 | 620 | -31.8% | |
| 2024 | 857 | +38.2% | |
| 2025 | 768 | -10.4% |
For the 21 building fires Boulder departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 540 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 | Outside area, other | 87 | 16.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 63 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 45 | 8.3% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 33 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 27 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 27 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 4.6% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 17 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 155 | 28.7% |
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 Boulder mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 277 | 51.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 34 | 6.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 34 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 32 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 20 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 13 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 12 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 57 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Boulder departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 86% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $750,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $189,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $51,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Boulder sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
83 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 31 | |
| 40-49 | 29 | |
| 50-59 | 16 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 220,607 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,833 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 11.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 7.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 19.3 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 Boulder. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Boulder.
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.