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2025 County Report

Fires in Boulder County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Boulder County responded to 1,803 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $755K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

294,105 residents FIPS 08013 68 cities · 18 fire depts
Total incidents
1,803
9,598 across 5 years
Building fires
105
205 wildland
Property loss
$8.2M
$6.3M structure · $1.9M contents
Casualties
1 / 8
1 civ deaths · 2 civ inj · 6 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 44% of all calls.

1,803
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 384 21.3%
Unauthorized burning 118 6.5%
Building fires 105 5.8%
Carbon monoxide incident 105 5.8%
Power line down 83 4.6%
All other categories 1,008 55.9%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Boulder County?

Dec peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 134
Feb 128
Mar 166
Apr 134
May 137
Jun 151
Jul 171
Aug 175
Sep 132
Oct 82
Nov 158
Dec 235
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Boulder County

9,598 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,954
2022 2,164
2023 1,659
2024 2,018
2025 1,803
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 105 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
129
Cause undetermined
14%
41
Intentional / arson
15%
44
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
38
Under investigation
10%
27
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
4
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Boulder County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 61% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $754,900 LONGMONT Building fires Major
2 $750,000 BOULDER Building fires Major
3 $500,000 LONGMONT Building fires Major
4 $478,000 LONGMONT Building fires Major
5 $300,000 BOULDER Building fires Major
6 $250,000 BOULDER Building fires Major
7 $250,000 Weld Building fires Major
8 $200,000 BOULDER Building fires Significant
9 $189,000 BOULDER Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 LONGMONT Building fires Significant
06 How Boulder County compares

Boulder County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.13
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Boulder County
6.13
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
0.36
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Boulder County
0.36
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
3.4
Civilian fire deaths per million
Boulder County
3.4
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Boulder County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 08013.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Boulder County

18 departments report from this county.

BOULDER FIRERESCUE
BOULDER
FDID 01315 638 incidents 112 paid
LONGMONT FD
LONGMONT
FDID 01360 320 incidents 83 paid
LOUISVILLE FPD
LOUISVILLE
FDID 01366 111 incidents 46 vol
LAFAYETTE FD
LAFAYETTE
FDID 01354 67 incidents 2 paid 60 vol
Boulder Rural Fire Rescue
Boulder
FDID 01321 57 incidents 18 paid 10 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.