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In 2025, fire departments serving Mead responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $52K 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 76% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
328 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.4M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 68 | — | |
| 2022 | 86 | +26.5% | |
| 2023 | 57 | -33.7% | |
| 2024 | 59 | +3.5% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -1.7% |
For the 0 building fires Mead departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 77 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 | 24 | 31.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 21 | 27.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 9 | 11.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 11.7% |
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 Mead mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 45.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 5 | 6.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 11.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mead departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $52,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $1,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mead sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
11 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 2 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 8 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 186,523 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 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 24.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 8,908 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,685 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 25.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 39.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,498 | 31.5 mi |
Top 6 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 Mead. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.