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In 2025, fire departments serving Gypsum responded to 90 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $600K 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 58% of all calls.
Jun peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
315 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 61 | +19.6% | |
| 2023 | 63 | +3.3% | |
| 2024 | 50 | -20.6% | |
| 2025 | 90 | +80.0% |
For the 9 building fires Gypsum departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 81 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 | 12 | 14.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 11 | 13.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 13.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 12.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 22.2% |
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 Gypsum mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 30 | 37.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 19.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 8 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 4 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 8.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gypsum departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $600,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $12,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gypsum sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 153,220 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 | 32,431 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 20,120 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 17,056 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,833 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 13,493 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,209 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,967 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 5,538 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 4,417 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,400 | 48.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,190 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,070 | 19.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Gypsum. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gypsum.
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.