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In 2025, fire departments serving Walsenburg responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 51% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
230 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $435K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 40 | — | |
| 2022 | 62 | +55.0% | |
| 2023 | 58 | -6.5% | |
| 2024* | 19 | — | |
| 2025 | 51 | — |
* Well below Walsenburg'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 9 building fires Walsenburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 20 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 | 6 | 30.0% | |
| 2 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 9 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 15.0% |
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 Walsenburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 65.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 3 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 5.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette | 1 | 5.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Walsenburg 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. Walsenburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 254,554 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 107,995 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 33,000 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 18,320 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 13,820 | 30.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 13,572 | 15.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 11,357 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,275 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,249 | 41.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,232 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5,100 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 3,850 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,825 | 16.7 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 Walsenburg. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Walsenburg.
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.