ZIP 81520 recorded 172 fire and hazmat incidents in 2025, 696 across 2021–2025. Primary county: Mesa County, CO. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.
696 incidents from 2021 through 2025 inside this ZIP.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 142 | |
| 2022 | 143 | |
| 2023 | 96 | |
| 2024 | 143 | |
| 2025 | 172 |
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Aggregated across all 5 years inside this ZIP.
Top 5 NFIRS incident types for ZIP 81520 across 2021–2025.
| # | Incident type | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Building fires | 84 | 12.1% | |
| 2 | Unauthorized burning | 84 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | 63 | 9.1% | |
| 4 | Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) | 62 | 8.9% | |
| 5 | Authorized controlled burning | 57 | 8.2% |
For the 24 building fires reported here in 2025, here's how investigators classified ignition cause.
NFIRS Area of Origin for ZIP 81520 fires across 2021–2025.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 21.5% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 15 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 15 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 14 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 11 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Other | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | All other areas | 30 | 23.1% |
NFIRS HEAT_SOURC code — the physical thing that started the fire.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 63 | 48.5% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 12 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | All other sources | 23 | 17.7% |
Largest single-incident losses in ZIP 81520 across 2021–2025. These 8 fires alone account for 141% of the ZIP's 2025 reported total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Year | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $330,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Major |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | 2024 | Major |
| 3 | $200,000 | Building fires | 2021 | Significant |
| 4 | $162,000 | Building fires | 2022 | Significant |
| 5 | $150,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 6 | $100,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | 2025 | Significant |
| 7 | $75,000 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
| 8 | $51,900 | Building fires | 2025 | Significant |
Some ZIPs span multiple cities. Ranked by 5-yr NFIRS incidents inside ZIP 81520.
| # | City | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Clifton | 631 | |
| 2 | Grand Junction | 55 | |
| 3 | Palisade | 6 |
The figures above are historical. For today's air quality, fire-weather warnings, and active fires, go to the official sources.
NFIRS reports each fire incident with a 5-digit address ZIP. We aggregate those rows directly to produce ZIP-level totals — 696 incidents in this ZIP across 2021–2025. Building-fire breakdowns (Area of Origin, Heat Source, ignition cause) only count fires investigators classified beyond the basic incident report. Because NFIRS reporting is voluntary, totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.