In 2025, fire departments serving Bernalillo responded to 102 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $40K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 54% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
460 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $335K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 78 | — | |
| 2022 | 89 | +14.1% | |
| 2023 | 98 | +10.1% | |
| 2024 | 93 | -5.1% | |
| 2025 | 102 | +9.7% |
For the 7 building fires Bernalillo departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 233 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 | 73 | 31.3% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 33 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Other | 13 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 36 | 15.5% |
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 Bernalillo mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 151 | 64.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 14 | 6.0% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 5 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 22 | 9.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bernalillo departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $40,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $3,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,500 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $100 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bernalillo sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 328,753 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 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 47,650 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 23,938 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,912 | 36.1 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,575 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 13,709 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,000 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 5,478 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 4,303 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 4,150 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,026 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 45.9 mi |
Top 3 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 Bernalillo. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bernalillo.
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.