In 2025, fire departments serving Clayton responded to 55 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $30K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Clayton's departments reported 55 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 110 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 76% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
551 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 96 | — | |
| 2022 | 140 | +45.8% | |
| 2023 | 150 | +7.1% | |
| 2024 | 110 | -26.7% | |
| 2025* | 55 | — |
* Well below Clayton'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 2 building fires Clayton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 54 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 | 9 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 9 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 18.5% |
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 Clayton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 59.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clayton departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $30,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clayton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 205,197 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,305 | 4.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 23,000 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,650 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,350 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 11,520 | 26.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11,009 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 8,000 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 7,750 | 22.8 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,600 | 12.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,815 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,343 | 17.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Smoking | 6,080 | 12.4 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 Clayton. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Clayton.
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.