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In 2025, fire departments serving Castle Rock responded to 295 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $532K 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 63% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,331 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.4M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 616 | — | |
| 2022 | 734 | +19.2% | |
| 2023 | 337 | -54.1% | |
| 2024 | 349 | +3.6% | |
| 2025 | 295 | -15.5% |
For the 19 building fires Castle Rock departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 267 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 | 75 | 28.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 27 | 10.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 17 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 63 | 23.6% |
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 Castle Rock mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 89 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 39 | 14.6% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 33 | 12.4% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 7.9% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 12 | 4.5% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 30 | 11.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Castle Rock departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $532,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $307,032 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building or structure weakened or collapsed | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Castle Rock sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
17 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 | 7 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 237,593 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 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,947 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,000 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 19.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 20.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 2,312 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 41.9 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 Castle Rock. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Castle Rock.
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.