DENVER -- Imagine if your home catches fire and you dial 911, just to wait seven minutes for firefighters to get to the scene. Your house could be destroyed in that amount of time.

So how quick are fire departments in the metro area when it comes to responding to emergencies?

With the soaring population in Colorado, fire departments all across the metro area are constantly looking ways to improve their response times, or at least keep them where they are now.

But as it turns out, many of our fire departments are doing fairly well already and in some cases, they're well ahead of the curve.

"I went over the fire three times to try and open the door, but it was sealed, automatically sealed the door. I tried to get out the window. I couldn't do that. I felt like my life was over," one victim of fire told 7NEWS.

The difference between life and death depends largely on response time the time it takes firefighters to get to the scene. Response time is what a person perceives as the time they finish dialing the last 1 in 911 to the time the fire department gets there and knocks on the door, 7NEWS reported.

Across the country, the standard response time is around six minutes. 7NEWS has learned that nearly every fire department in the Denver metro area is well below that.

Englewood is leading the way, with an average response time of three minutes.

"Englewood is a community of around seven square miles and we have three fire stations that are strategically located. A lot of our districts overlap," said Don Shoenbein of the Englewood Fire Department.

It's a relatively small area to cover but Englewood's battalion chief said the keys to their success are community support and the quality of their training -- what some might refer to as "street smarts."

"We are constantly touring the districts, finding the best avenues, the best routes to take calls," said Shoenbein.

You can do your part help your fire department improve response times. Report fires as soon as possible and get out of the way of fire trucks if you see them on the road, officials said.

One of the few cities in the metro area with a below-standard response time is Aurora. It takes them an average of six minutes and 42 seconds from getting the call to getting to the scene. But they tell us they're currently taking steps to improve.

Some response times for your city are listed below. Or if your city is not listed, you can simply call the non-emergency number for your fire department, and they'll tell you.

Arvada 3:54
Aurora 6:42
Brighton 6:27
Castle Rock 5:08
Denver 4:56
Englewood 3:00
Glendale 4:04
Littleton 5:00
West Metro Fire 4:30
Westminster 4:37