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2025 County Report

Fires in Adams County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Adams County responded to 2,932 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

490,508 residents FIPS 08001 35 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
2,932
15,845 across 5 years
Building fires
392
298 wildland
Property loss
$17.7M
$12.8M structure · $4.9M contents
Casualties
6 / 131
6 civ deaths · 16 civ inj · 115 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

2,932
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 398 13.6%
Building fires 392 13.4%
Unauthorized burning 380 13.0%
Carbon monoxide incident 191 6.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 176 6.0%
All other categories 1,395 47.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Adams County?

Jul peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 220
Feb 215
Mar 323
Apr 252
May 247
Jun 267
Jul 324
Aug 195
Sep 168
Oct 238
Nov 257
Dec 226
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Adams County

15,845 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,791
2022 3,358
2023 3,081
2024 3,683
2025 2,932
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 392 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
301
Cause undetermined
14%
83
Intentional / arson
17%
102
Equipment / heat source failure
11%
64
Under investigation
5%
32
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $6.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Adams County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 48% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,000,000 Bennett Building fires Major
2 $1,000,000 Brighton Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Major
3 $800,000 Westminster Building fires Major
4 $600,000 Bennett Building fires Major
5 $551,738 UNINC ADAMS Building fires Major
6 $500,000 UNINC ADAMS Building fires Major
7 $450,000 Thornton Building fires Major
8 $438,000 Westminster Building fires Major
9 $402,000 Westminster Building fires Major
10 $350,000 UNINC ADAMS Building fires Major
06 How Adams County compares

Adams County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

5.98
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Adams County
5.98
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
0.8
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Adams County
0.8
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
12.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Adams County
12.2
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Adams County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 08001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Adams County

9 departments report from this county.

WESTMINSTER FD
WESTMINSTER
FDID 00190 734 incidents 102 paid
NORTH METRO FRD
BROOMFIELD
FDID 00180 586 incidents 115 paid
THORNTON FIRE DEPARTMENT
THORNTON
FDID 00175 437 incidents 64 paid
BRIGHTON FIRE RESCUE DISTRICT
BRIGHTON
FDID 00115 408 incidents 36 paid 55 vol
SOUTH ADAMS COUNTY FIRE DIST
COMMERCE CITY
FDID 00160 304 incidents 63 paid 4 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in CO

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Cameron Peak 2020 USFS 208,912
2 Pine Gulch 2020 BLM 138,802
3 Hayman 2002 USFS 137,760
4 Spring Creek 2018 BLM 108,045
5 High Park 2012 BLM 87,306
6 MISSIONARY RIDGE 2002 USFS 70,480
7 WEST FORK 2013 USFS 56,575
8 416 2018 USFS 54,130
9 Papoose 2013 USFS 49,282
10 Bridger 2008 BLM 46,588

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.