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In 2025, fire departments serving Telluride responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
197 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $16K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | — | |
| 2022 | 37 | +2.8% | |
| 2023 | 43 | +16.2% | |
| 2024 | 40 | -7.0% | |
| 2025 | 41 | +2.5% |
For the 1 building fires Telluride departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 11.8% |
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 Telluride mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Match | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 1 | 5.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Telluride departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Telluride sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 290,497 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 73,121 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54,129 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 49,628 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 30,292 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 24,931 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 19,634 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,593 | 33.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 3,840 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,211 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,608 | 23.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 2,607 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 2,560 | 48.8 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 | 81435 | 197 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Telluride. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Telluride.
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.