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In 2025, fire departments serving Poncha Springs responded to 20 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K 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 75% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
78 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $5K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 16 | — | |
| 2022 | 25 | +56.2% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 16 | — | |
| 2025 | 20 | +25.0% |
* Well below Poncha Springs'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 2 building fires Poncha Springs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | Outside area, other | 6 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Processing/manufacturing area, workroom | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 14.3% |
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 Poncha Springs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Poncha Springs departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Poncha Springs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 73,623 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Natural | 16,562 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 13,023 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,959 | 8.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,600 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,000 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,439 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,000 | 29.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,218 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,423 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 1,152 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 1,115 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,100 | 46.3 mi |
Top 3 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 Poncha Springs. 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.