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In 2025, fire departments serving Northglenn responded to 203 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $120K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,152 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 170 | — | |
| 2022 | 259 | +52.4% | |
| 2023 | 246 | -5.0% | |
| 2024 | 274 | +11.4% | |
| 2025 | 203 | -25.9% |
For the 36 building fires Northglenn departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 295 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 40 | 13.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 31 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 28 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 27 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 26 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 24 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 10 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 10 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 74 | 25.1% |
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 Northglenn mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 115 | 39.0% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 30 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 17 | 5.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 15 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 15 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 52 | 17.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Northglenn departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,334 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Northglenn sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
80 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 | 12 | |
| 30-39 | 35 | |
| 40-49 | 23 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 112,582 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 39.4 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 48.5 mi |
Top 8 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 Northglenn. 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.