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In 2025, fire departments serving Norwood responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.6M 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.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
81 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2.7M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 9 | — | |
| 2022 | 22 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | -40.9% | |
| 2024 | 11 | -15.4% | |
| 2025 | 26 | +136.4% |
* Well below Norwood'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 Norwood departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 19 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 21.1% |
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 Norwood mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 5 | Match | 2 | 10.5% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 5.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Norwood departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,645,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $522,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $12,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Norwood sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 156,791 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 36,520 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 30,292 | 5.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 19,634 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 7,300 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,000 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,742 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,593 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 4,580 | 48.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Smoking | 4,200 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 4,187 | 25.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 3,840 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,211 | 17.3 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 | 81423 | 81 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Norwood. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Norwood.
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.