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2025 County Report

Fires in Ouray County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Ouray County responded to 51 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

2,980 residents FIPS 08091 11 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
51
185 across 5 years
Building fires
1
11 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 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 53% of all calls.

51
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 8 15.7%
Unauthorized burning 7 13.7%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 6 11.8%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 3 5.9%
Carbon monoxide incident 3 5.9%
All other categories 24 47.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ouray County?

Jul peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 2
Feb 3
Mar 1
Apr 2
May 7
Jun 8
Jul 9
Aug 9
Sep 3
Oct 0
Nov 4
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ouray County

185 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 28
2022 38
2023 42
2024 26
2025 51
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 1 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
5
Cause undetermined
15%
2
Intentional / arson
8%
1
Equipment / heat source failure
15%
2
Under investigation
8%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
16%
2
06 How Ouray County compares

Ouray County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

17.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ouray County
17.11
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
0.34
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ouray County
0.34
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ouray County
0
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ouray County

11 cities mapped to FIPS 08091.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ouray County

3 departments report from this county.

RIDGWAY VFD
RIDGWAY
FDID 09130 33 incidents 24 vol
OURAY VFD
OURAY
FDID 09125 14 incidents 26 vol
HORSEFLY VOL FIRE PROTECTION
MONTROSE
FDID 09110 0 incidents 30 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.