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.
CACOOR
In 2025, fire departments serving Carbondale responded to 120 fire and hazmat incidents . 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.
Aug peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
435 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $198K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 76 | — | |
| 2022 | 80 | +5.3% | |
| 2023 | 56 | -30.0% | |
| 2024 | 103 | +83.9% | |
| 2025 | 120 | +16.5% |
For the 5 building fires Carbondale departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 84 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 3 | 3.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 33.3% |
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 Carbondale mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Carbondale sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 122,868 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32,431 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 17,056 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 13,493 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,209 | 15.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,967 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 5,538 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 4,417 | 35.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,848 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,190 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,070 | 9.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 2,806 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,703 | 36.0 mi |
Top 3 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 Carbondale. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Carbondale.
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.