In 2025, fire departments serving Alamogordo responded to 343 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $165K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,850 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.2M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 380 | — | |
| 2022 | 327 | -13.9% | |
| 2023 | 407 | +24.5% | |
| 2024 | 393 | -3.4% | |
| 2025 | 343 | -12.7% |
For the 48 building fires Alamogordo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 568 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 119 | 21.0% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 96 | 16.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 52 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 37 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 33 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 15 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 144 | 25.4% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Alamogordo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 298 | 52.5% | |
| 2 | Cigarette lighter | 33 | 5.8% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 26 | 4.6% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 23 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 22 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 19 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 16 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 71 | 12.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Alamogordo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 71% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $164,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Alamogordo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
13 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 2 | |
| 10-19 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 262,266 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 40,000 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 31,861 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,000 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,422 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 16,141 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 16,034 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 16,020 | 20.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,000 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 10,334 | 35.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 9,428 | 42.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,260 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,518 | 37.4 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Alamogordo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Alamogordo.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.