In 2025, fire departments serving Cloudcroft responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
138 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $203K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 19 | — | |
| 2022* | 13 | — | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | — | |
| 2025 | 48 | +4.3% |
* Well below Cloudcroft'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 3 building fires Cloudcroft departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 31 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 8 | 25.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 16.1% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 3.2% |
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 Cloudcroft mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 19 | 61.3% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 12.9% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Cloudcroft sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 521,639 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 101,562 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 64,488 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 40,000 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 35,165 | 46.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 31,861 | 14.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 29,952 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 25,329 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,000 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 18,199 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,422 | 26.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 16,141 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 16,034 | 16.4 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 Cloudcroft. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Cloudcroft.
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.