In 2025, fire departments serving Belen responded to 230 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $209K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,734 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 226 | — | |
| 2022 | 438 | +93.8% | |
| 2023 | 518 | +18.3% | |
| 2024 | 322 | -37.8% | |
| 2025 | 230 | -28.6% |
For the 21 building fires Belen departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 387 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 | 171 | 44.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 81 | 20.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 23 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 20 | 5.2% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 11 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Structural area, other | 4 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 3 | 0.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 9.8% |
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 Belen mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 289 | 74.7% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 16 | 4.1% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 14 | 3.6% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 2.6% | |
| 5 | Match | 9 | 2.3% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 1.6% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 17 | 4.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Belen departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $209,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Belen sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
12 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 5 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 90,048 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,912 | 25.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 13,709 | 19.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 7,836 | 23.4 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,969 | 21.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 5,478 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 3,840 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 2,712 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,700 | 26.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,560 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 2,213 | 26.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 13.1 mi |
Top 6 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 Belen. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Belen.
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.