In 2025, fire departments serving Albuquerque responded to 7,830 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $311K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 86% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37,955 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $12.8M cumulative property loss. 17 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 5,178 | — | |
| 2022 | 6,395 | +23.5% | |
| 2023 | 8,174 | +27.8% | |
| 2024 | 10,378 | +27.0% | |
| 2025 | 7,830 | -24.6% |
For the 189 building fires Albuquerque departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2,612 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 | 731 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 341 | 13.1% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 168 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 132 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 124 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 112 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 102 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 60 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Other | 59 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 59 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 724 | 27.7% |
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 Albuquerque mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1,362 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 271 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 258 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 142 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 114 | 4.4% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 69 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 57 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 52 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 35 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 33 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 219 | 8.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Albuquerque departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 64% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $311,491 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $250,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $223,560 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $200,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $128,477 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $128,477 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $88,203 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $85,339 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Albuquerque sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
85 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 11 | |
| 30-39 | 27 | |
| 40-49 | 13 | |
| 50-59 | 12 | |
| 60-69 | 5 | |
| 70-79 | 8 | |
| 80+ | 5 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 259,535 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 156,593 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,912 | 25.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,575 | 48.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 13,709 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,000 | 35.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,969 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 5,478 | 27.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 4,303 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 4,150 | 46.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,213 | 11.2 mi |
Top 10 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Albuquerque.
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.