Home› Counties› CO› Garfield County
2025 County Report

Fires in Garfield County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Garfield County responded to 607 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1.6M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

44,165 residents FIPS 08045 28 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
607
2,880 across 5 years
Building fires
26
148 wildland
Property loss
$3.6M
$2.7M structure · $910K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

607
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 109 18.0%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 81 13.3%
Passenger vehicle fire 40 6.6%
Carbon monoxide incident 35 5.8%
Unauthorized burning 35 5.8%
All other categories 307 50.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Garfield County?

Jun peaks. Feb dips.

Jan 34
Feb 30
Mar 47
Apr 65
May 53
Jun 76
Jul 73
Aug 63
Sep 46
Oct 35
Nov 41
Dec 44
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Garfield County

2,880 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 543
2022 535
2023 593
2024 602
2025 607
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 26 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
50
Cause undetermined
7%
8
Intentional / arson
12%
13
Equipment / heat source failure
17%
18
Under investigation
14%
15
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.7M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Garfield County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 98% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $1,590,000 Glenwood Springs Building fires Major
2 $300,000 City of Glenwood Spr Building fires Major
3 $250,000 Rifle Passenger vehicle fire Major
4 $200,000 Glenwood Springs Building fires Significant
5 $80,000 Debeque Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $75,000 Silt Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $75,000 Rifle Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Glenwood Springs Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $30,000 Silt Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $25,000 Rifle Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Garfield County compares

Garfield County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

13.74
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Garfield County
13.74
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
0.59
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Garfield County
0.59
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Garfield County
0
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Garfield County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 08045.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Garfield County

5 departments report from this county.

COLORADO RIVER FIRE RESCUE
RIFLE
FDID 04525 271 incidents
GLENWOOD SPRINGS FD
GLENWOOD SPRINGS
FDID 04520 145 incidents 18 paid 12 vol
CARBONDALE RURAL FPD
CARBONDALE
FDID 04505 105 incidents 9 paid 60 vol
GRAND VALLEY FPD
PARACHUTE
FDID 04530 0 incidents 40 vol
NULL RIFLE FPD
RIFLE
FDID 04535 0 incidents 9 paid 52 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.