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In 2025, fire departments serving Nederland responded to 50 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
193 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $38K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022 | 46 | -19.3% | |
| 2023* | 18 | — | |
| 2024* | 22 | — | |
| 2025 | 50 | — |
* Well below Nederland'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 5 building fires Nederland departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 36 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 | Wildland, woods | 10 | 27.8% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 9 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 8.3% |
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 Nederland mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 33.3% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 22.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 13.9% | |
| 4 | Match | 3 | 8.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Nederland departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Nederland sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 594,727 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 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 193,812 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 87,275 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,833 | 30.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 39.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 80466 | 193 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Nederland. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Nederland.
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.