In 2025, fire departments serving Breckenridge responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
55 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $510K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 8 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | -70.4% | |
| 2025 | 10 | +25.0% |
* Well below Breckenridge'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 0 building fires Breckenridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Storage area, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 7 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 8.7% |
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 Breckenridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 9 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Breckenridge departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Breckenridge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 15,364 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,855 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,381 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,155 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 943 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Debris and open burning | 910 | 13.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Equipment and vehicle use | 900 | 21.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 720 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 678 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 600 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 497 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 480 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 474 | 24.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 56520 | 55 |
Six Minnesota cities with population within ±25% of Breckenridge. 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.