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In 2025, fire departments serving La Jara responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $178K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Prescribed fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 71% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
53 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $193K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 42 | — |
* Well below La Jara'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 La Jara departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 9 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 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Exterior, exposed surface | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 1 | 11.1% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 1 | 11.1% |
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 La Jara mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 22.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 22.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by La Jara departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $177,500 | Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. La Jara sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 177,155 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 107,995 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 13,820 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,294 | 45.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 7,525 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,495 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,020 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,249 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5,100 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 3,124 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,183 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 1,417 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,010 | 36.4 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 La Jara. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in La Jara.
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.