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2025 County Report

Fires in Lake County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Lake County responded to 74 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $3K property loss.

4,625 residents FIPS 08065 11 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
74
400 across 5 years
Building fires
3
11 wildland
Property loss
$4K
$3K structure · $560 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 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 61% of all calls.

74
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 18 24.3%
Authorized controlled burning 8 10.8%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 7 9.5%
Carbon monoxide incident 6 8.1%
Unauthorized burning 6 8.1%
All other categories 29 39.2%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lake County?

Sep peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 4
Mar 3
Apr 10
May 7
Jun 9
Jul 7
Aug 12
Sep 13
Oct 7
Nov 0
Dec 2
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lake County

400 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 77
2022 70
2023 84
2024 95
2025 74
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
6
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
23%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
15%
2
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
0
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $3K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lake County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $3,000 Leadville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
2 $20 Leadville Forest, woods or wildland fire Significant
06 How Lake County compares

Lake County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lake County
16
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
0.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lake County
0.65
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lake County
0
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lake County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 08065.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lake County

1 departments report from this county.

LEADVILLELAKE CTY FIRE RESCUE
LEADVILLE
FDID 06515 74 incidents 11 paid 14 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.