Over the past few years, Colorado Springs has experienced numerous fires started by homeless individuals. This spring, one incident in particular caught our attention: a homeless person intentionally set a fire to damage a specific area of the city. Fortunately, the fire was quickly extinguished, and the suspect was arrested. On a windy, dry day, it’s easy to imagine that a catastrophe could have resulted from that fire.
We began asking questions about fires started by homeless individuals. Obtaining information was like pulling teeth. The City and the Colorado Springs Fire Department (CSFD) were not forthcoming with details and volunteered little. We were persistent.
We are thankful that the city is finally gathering information. Before 2023, they didn’t capture the data. They admit the 2023 data they passed along to us was sketchy, but the 2024 data is more reliable. They don’t have 2025 data at this point. Also, they noted, “The fires reported are not necessarily caused by the homeless, but are associated with the homeless.”
2023 2024
Unauthorized Burning 793 603
Outside Fire 28 302
Structure Fire 23 42
Wildland Fire 4 51
Vehicle Fire 9 13
Special Outside Fire 0 12
Fixed Mobile Property Fire 1 1
GRAND TOTAL 858 1024
If you’ve followed us for any amount of time, you know the question on our minds after they passed the chart above to us through a Colorado Open Records Act (CORA) request. How much did it cost the taxpayers to extinguish all of these fires?
Initially, the city responded to our CORA with the figure of $230,044. Less than an hour later, they had a much higher number of $867,162. The amended response said, “Please disregard the previous costs listed of $230,044 for the 2024 fires involving homeless. The costs were $867,162.”
That’s an average of $846.84 for each fire in 2024. You picked up the tab.
We asked how the city is tracking the cost of the fire department’s response to each call related to homeless people. They answered that CSFD is responsible for tracking the costs and reporting to the city. The CSFD has a cost allocation model that assigns direct and indirect costs to incidents.
My Take
I worked as a registered nurse at downtown’s Memorial Hospital for years. I directly cared for homeless people, detoxing many patients from various substances and treating their ailments. I’d work with social workers to find patients new clothes, medications, resources, and shelter information. Several incidents still stick with me years later. I understand the dysfunction of drug dependency and mental illness. I have sympathy for homeless people. Sadly, living on the streets is a choice for many of them. Sympathy shouldn’t equate with enabling a problem. No one group of people has the right to put an entire city at risk through their behaviors and choices.
The city is facing an $11.5 million budget shortage. We can’t afford to spend almost $1 million on fire calls for such a small fraction of the population. Either homeless people accept the shelter offered to them, or it’s time for some tough love.
Reach out to Colorado Springs Mayor Mobolade and city council members to politely share your thoughts about the problem and the spending of taxpayer funds.
Mayor Yemi Mobolade yemi.mobolade@coloradosprings.gov
Tom Bailey Tom.Bailey@coloradosprings.gov
Lynette Crow-Iverson Lynette.Crow-Iverson@coloradosprings.gov
Dave Donelson Dave.Donelson@coloradosprings.gov
Kimberly Gold Kimberly.Gold@coloradosprings.gov
Nancy Henjum Nancy.Henjum@coloradosprings.gov
David Leinweber David.Leinweber@coloradosprings.gov
Roland Rainey Roland.RaineyJr@coloradosprings.gov
Brian Risley brian.risley@coloradosprings.gov
Brandy Williams Brandy.Williams@coloradosprings.gov
4 thoughts on “Up in Smoke: The True Cost of Homeless Fires”
I’ve been writing about this for years. There are solutions.
What do you suggest?
“The fires reported are not necessarily caused by the homeless, but are associated with the homeless.”
LOL!!! What does that mean?!
Thank you for doing this important research!
The amount of $$$ we’re spending is completely unacceptable.