In 2025, fire departments serving Arenas Valley responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $25K 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 79% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $247K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 10 | — | |
| 2022* | 7 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | — | |
| 2024 | 28 | +100.0% | |
| 2025 | 28 | +0.0% |
* Well below Arenas Valley's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 7 building fires Arenas Valley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 58 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 | Outside area, other | 12 | 20.7% | |
| 2 | Other | 10 | 17.2% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 7 | 12.1% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 6 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Structural area, other | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wall assembly | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 13.8% |
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 Arenas Valley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 53.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 12 | 20.7% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Arenas Valley departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Arenas Valley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,192,279 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 297,845 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 234,000 | 24.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 88,835 | 27.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 77,000 | 43.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 65,000 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 37,600 | 42.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 34,941 | 48.0 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 32,000 | 27.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 29,000 | 39.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 29,000 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 27,600 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 25,950 | 42.6 mi |
Top 2 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 Arenas Valley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.