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In 2025, fire departments serving Sterling responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Sterling's departments reported 64 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 187 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
934 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $4.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 203 | — | |
| 2022 | 263 | +29.6% | |
| 2023 | 205 | -22.1% | |
| 2024 | 199 | -2.9% | |
| 2025* | 64 | — |
* Well below Sterling'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 11 building fires Sterling departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 225 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 | 34 | 15.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 30 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 29 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 12 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 8 | 3.6% | |
| 10 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 7 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 63 | 28.0% |
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 Sterling mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 97 | 43.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 30 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 19 | 8.4% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 4.0% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 29 | 12.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sterling departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sterling sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 47,842 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30,000 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 1,400 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,200 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,028 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 1,000 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Railroad operations and maintenance | 963 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 866 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 716 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 682 | 1.7 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 Sterling. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sterling.
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.