Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Lafayette responded to 75 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Lafayette's departments reported 75 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 135 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
675 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $1.0M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 158 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | -11.4% | |
| 2023 | 147 | +5.0% | |
| 2024 | 155 | +5.4% | |
| 2025* | 75 | — |
* Well below Lafayette'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 10 building fires Lafayette departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 19 | 24.4% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 22 | 28.2% |
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 Lafayette mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 26 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 14.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 6 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 10.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lafayette departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $200 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lafayette sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 201,289 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 18.5 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 18.2 mi |
Top 3 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 Lafayette. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lafayette.
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.