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In 2025, fire departments serving Delta responded to 194 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $20K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
978 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $322K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 176 | — | |
| 2022 | 244 | +38.6% | |
| 2023 | 163 | -33.2% | |
| 2024 | 201 | +23.3% | |
| 2025 | 194 | -3.5% |
For the 6 building fires Delta departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 393 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 115 | 29.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 93 | 23.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 87 | 22.1% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 19 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 41 | 10.4% |
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 Delta mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 139 | 35.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 79 | 20.1% | |
| 3 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 45 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 23 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Match | 17 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 8 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 26 | 6.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Delta departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $20,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,500 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Delta sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 273,613 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 139,007 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 36,520 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 30,292 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 13,920 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 13,000 | 30.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 4,187 | 37.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,848 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 2,806 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 2,703 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,608 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 2,607 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 2,599 | 26.9 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 Delta. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Delta.
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.