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.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Snowmass Village responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 78% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
75 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 0 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024 | 33 | — | |
| 2025 | 41 | +24.2% |
* Well below Snowmass Village'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 Snowmass Village departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 7 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 | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Storage area, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 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 Snowmass Village mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 42.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Snowmass Village sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 97,821 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 32,431 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 13,493 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 13,023 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,209 | 34.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,848 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,070 | 10.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,400 | 18.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 2,115 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 1,587 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,462 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,452 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,240 | 37.6 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 | 81615 | 75 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Snowmass Village. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Snowmass Village.
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.