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In 2025, fire departments serving Grand Junction responded to 965 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 53% of all calls.
Mar peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,329 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $15.1M cumulative property loss. 5 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 771 | — | |
| 2022 | 793 | +2.9% | |
| 2023 | 854 | +7.7% | |
| 2024 | 946 | +10.8% | |
| 2025 | 965 | +2.0% |
For the 73 building fires Grand Junction departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 727 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 | Undetermined | 151 | 20.8% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 104 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 46 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 45 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 30 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 26 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Exterior, exposed surface | 24 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 23 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 23 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 21 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 234 | 32.2% |
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 Grand Junction mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 317 | 43.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 76 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 49 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 40 | 5.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 26 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 23 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 22 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 22 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 20 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 18 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 114 | 15.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Grand Junction departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 51% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $371,300 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $360,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Grand Junction sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
22 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 6 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 278,322 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 139,007 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 36,520 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 13,920 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 13,000 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,722 | 42.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 5,580 | 22.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 5,343 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,292 | 33.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 4,600 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,580 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 4,187 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,820 | 33.2 mi |
Top 10 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 Grand Junction. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Grand Junction.
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.