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In 2025, fire departments serving Dacono responded to 34 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K 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 59% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
225 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $902K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 52 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | -7.7% | |
| 2023 | 49 | +2.1% | |
| 2024 | 42 | -14.3% | |
| 2025 | 34 | -19.0% |
For the 1 building fires Dacono departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 15 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 7.4% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 11 | 20.4% |
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 Dacono mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 24.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 14.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 11.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dacono departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $4,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $800 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dacono sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 189,778 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 33.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 23.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 28.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 45.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 42.4 mi |
Top 7 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 Dacono. 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.