Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Georgetown responded to 29 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
215 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 44 | — | |
| 2022 | 56 | +27.3% | |
| 2023 | 56 | +0.0% | |
| 2024 | 30 | -46.4% | |
| 2025 | 29 | -3.3% |
For the 0 building fires Georgetown departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 130 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 | 50 | 38.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 33 | 25.4% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 15.4% | |
| 4 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Exterior, exposed surface | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 7 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 5.4% |
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 Georgetown mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 48 | 36.9% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 40 | 30.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 21 | 16.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 1.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Georgetown sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 439,485 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 193,812 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 137,760 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,833 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 13,023 | 50.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 42.0 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 80444 | 215 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Georgetown. 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.