In 2025, fire departments serving Golden responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
35 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $4K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023* | 3 | — | |
| 2024* | 3 | — | |
| 2025 | 14 | — |
* Well below Golden'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 3 building fires Golden departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 3 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 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 33.3% |
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 Golden mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 33.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 1 | 33.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Golden departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Golden sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 3,442 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 835 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 280 | 28.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Equipment and vehicle use | 238 | 28.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 210 | 29.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 200 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 150 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 140 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 108 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 100 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 96 | 49.2 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 | 62339 | 35 |
Six Illinois cities with population within ±25% of Golden. 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.