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In 2025, fire departments serving Colorado Springs responded to 3,079 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $389K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
15,996 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $53.9M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 3,047 | — | |
| 2022 | 3,551 | +16.5% | |
| 2023 | 3,152 | -11.2% | |
| 2024 | 3,167 | +0.5% | |
| 2025 | 3,079 | -2.8% |
For the 137 building fires Colorado Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3,157 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 | 485 | 15.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 430 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 252 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 210 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Other | 175 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 171 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 159 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 125 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 112 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 86 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 952 | 30.2% |
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 Colorado Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,239 | 39.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 268 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 227 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 194 | 6.1% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 191 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 165 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 140 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 111 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 101 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 80 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 441 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Colorado Springs departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 33% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $388,924 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $377,113 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $359,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $251,863 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $228,970 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $227,533 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $219,003 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $182,227 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Colorado Springs sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
103 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 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 19 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 4 | |
| 60-69 | 7 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 317,128 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 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 42,795 | 22.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,947 | 9.4 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 8.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,636 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,064 | 20.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,355 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,328 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,000 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,528 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 5,038 | 23.6 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 Colorado Springs. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Colorado Springs.
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.