Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Florence responded to 77 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 51% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
273 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022 | 61 | — | |
| 2023 | 64 | +4.9% | |
| 2024 | 70 | +9.4% | |
| 2025 | 77 | +10.0% |
* Well below Florence's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 4 building fires Florence departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 105 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 | 22 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 25 | 23.8% |
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 Florence mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 9 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 5 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 21 | 20.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Florence departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $30,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Florence sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 354,847 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 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 42,795 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,947 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 18,320 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 16,562 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 11,357 | 15.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,636 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,064 | 18.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,959 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,355 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,328 | 27.1 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 Florence. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Florence.
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.