Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Otis responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 82% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
67 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $235K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 10 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | +100.0% | |
| 2023* | 6 | — | |
| 2024 | 14 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | +21.4% |
* Well below Otis'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 Otis departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Outside area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Otis mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Lightning | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 7.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Otis sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 125,378 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45,000 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,000 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,300 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,200 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,783 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,200 | 4.0 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 1,000 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 0.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 37.4 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 | 80743 | 67 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Otis. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Otis.
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.