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In 2025, fire departments serving Brighton responded to 262 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 57% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,442 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.9M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 283 | — | |
| 2022 | 313 | +10.6% | |
| 2023 | 275 | -12.1% | |
| 2024 | 309 | +12.4% | |
| 2025 | 262 | -15.2% |
For the 30 building fires Brighton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 227 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 | 54 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 28 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 20 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 8 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 68 | 30.0% |
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 Brighton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 74 | 32.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 11.0% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 23 | 10.1% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 21 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Candle | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 38 | 16.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Brighton departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $18,233 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Brighton sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,447 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,498 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,008 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 2,939 | 49.8 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 Brighton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Brighton.
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.