Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Granby responded to 57 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.8M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Forest, woods or wildland fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
189 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $6.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | +100.0% | |
| 2023* | 20 | — | |
| 2024 | 43 | — | |
| 2025 | 57 | +32.6% |
* Well below Granby'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 5 building fires Granby departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 49 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 | 8 | 16.3% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 16.3% | |
| 3 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 10 | Construction/renovation area | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 24.5% |
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 Granby mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Lightning | 7 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 8.2% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 6.1% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 4.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Granby departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,800,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,200,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $800,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $200,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Granby sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 587,399 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 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 193,812 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 20,120 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,833 | 16.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,400 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,498 | 27.8 mi |
Top 7 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 Granby. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Granby.
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.