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2025 County Report

Fires in Pitkin County, CO

In 2025, fire departments serving Pitkin County responded to 244 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $500K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

10,467 residents FIPS 08097 13 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
244
1,170 across 5 years
Building fires
19
8 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$820K structure · $1.4M contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Carbon monoxide incident lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

244
Total Incidents
Carbon monoxide incident 82 33.6%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 44 18.0%
Building fires 19 7.8%
Unauthorized burning 11 4.5%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 9 3.7%
All other categories 79 32.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Pitkin County?

Dec peaks. Sep dips.

Jan 24
Feb 21
Mar 20
Apr 17
May 15
Jun 24
Jul 21
Aug 19
Sep 14
Oct 19
Nov 24
Dec 26
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Pitkin County

1,170 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 305
2022 197
2023 216
2024 208
2025 244
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 19 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
47%
7
Cause undetermined
7%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
2
Under investigation
33%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
0%
0
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $820K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Pitkin County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $500,000 Aspen Building fires Major
2 $150,000 Aspen Building fires Significant
3 $100,000 Aspen Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Aspen Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire Significant
5 $10,000 Aspen Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Aspen Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue Significant
7 $5,000 Aspen Building fires Significant
06 How Pitkin County compares

Pitkin County vs CO vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.31
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Pitkin County
23.31
CO avg
8.02
US avg
7.15
1.82
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Pitkin County
1.82
CO avg
0.53
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Pitkin County
0
CO avg
4.8
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Pitkin County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 08097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Pitkin County

3 departments report from this county.

ASPEN FPD
ASPEN
FDID 09705 177 incidents 4 paid 47 vol
NULL SNOWMASSWILDCAT FPD
SNOWMASS VILLAGE
FDID 09735 0 incidents 33 paid
SARDY FIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT
ASPEN
FDID 09750 0 incidents 17 paid
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.