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In 2025, fire departments serving Wheat Ridge responded to 221 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $229K building blaze. 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 51% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,261 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $64.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 221 | — | |
| 2022 | 282 | +27.6% | |
| 2023 | 236 | -16.3% | |
| 2024 | 301 | +27.5% | |
| 2025 | 221 | -26.6% |
For the 18 building fires Wheat Ridge departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 388 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 | Outside area, other | 62 | 16.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 14.7% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 50 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 42 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 34 | 8.8% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 13 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 88 | 22.7% |
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 Wheat Ridge mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 170 | 43.8% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 48 | 12.4% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 32 | 8.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 25 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 19 | 4.9% | |
| 6 | Chemical reaction | 12 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 44 | 11.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wheat Ridge departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $228,604 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $183,174 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $51,268 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $33,612 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $33,569 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wheat Ridge sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
26 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 96,290 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,599 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,106 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 7.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,348 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,498 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,008 | 22.5 mi |
Top 7 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 Wheat Ridge. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wheat Ridge.
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.