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In 2025, fire departments serving Manassa responded to 68 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $6K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 100% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
240 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $391K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022* | 14 | — | |
| 2023 | 74 | — | |
| 2024 | 78 | +5.4% | |
| 2025 | 68 | -12.8% |
* Well below Manassa'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 1 building fires Manassa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Outside area, other | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Manassa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 29.4% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Match | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Manassa departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $6,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Manassa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 169,678 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 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 13,820 | 42.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 7,525 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,495 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,020 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,249 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5,100 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 3,124 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 2,360 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,183 | 0.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,010 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 918 | 11.0 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 Manassa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Manassa.
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.