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In 2025, fire departments serving Fort Collins responded to 710 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 58% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,695 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $8.3M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 640 | — | |
| 2022 | 796 | +24.4% | |
| 2023 | 740 | -7.0% | |
| 2024 | 809 | +9.3% | |
| 2025 | 710 | -12.2% |
For the 34 building fires Fort Collins departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 829 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 114 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 92 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 77 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 73 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 68 | 8.2% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 65 | 7.8% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 29 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 24 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 23 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 22 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 242 | 29.2% |
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 Fort Collins mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 300 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 90 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 45 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 43 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 40 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 38 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 34 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 33 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 30 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 27 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 149 | 18.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Fort Collins departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $130,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $130,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Collins sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
31 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 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 7 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 398,134 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 208,913 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 12.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 49.3 mi |
Top 8 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 Fort Collins. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Collins.
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.