Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
In 2025, fire departments serving Loveland responded to 577 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $232K 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 69% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,760 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5.2M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 526 | — | |
| 2022 | 632 | +20.2% | |
| 2023 | 493 | -22.0% | |
| 2024 | 532 | +7.9% | |
| 2025 | 577 | +8.5% |
For the 23 building fires Loveland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 510 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 | 71 | 13.9% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 61 | 12.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 48 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 48 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 39 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 38 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 16 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Other | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 145 | 28.4% |
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 Loveland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 262 | 51.4% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 45 | 8.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 33 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 29 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 19 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 15 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 14 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 11 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 10 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 62 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Loveland departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $231,700 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $162,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $62,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $24,990 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loveland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 397,631 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 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 25.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 14.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,400 | 46.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 26.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 46.6 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 Loveland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loveland.
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.