Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
CACOOR
In 2025, fire departments serving Rifle responded to 121 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $250K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
624 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 127 | — | |
| 2022 | 112 | -11.8% | |
| 2023 | 145 | +29.5% | |
| 2024 | 119 | -17.9% | |
| 2025 | 121 | +1.7% |
For the 5 building fires Rifle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 135 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 | Undetermined | 32 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 26 | 19.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 5 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Egress/exit, other | 2 | 1.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 31 | 23.0% |
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 Rifle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 71 | 52.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 8.1% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 6.7% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 3.0% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 9.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rifle departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $250,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $1,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rifle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 300,034 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Natural | 139,007 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32,431 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 17,056 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 13,920 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 13,493 | 18.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,209 | 18.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 7,815 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 5,967 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 5,580 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 5,538 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,292 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 4,417 | 28.2 mi |
Top 2 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 Rifle. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rifle.
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.