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2025 Annual Fire Report

Fires in Eunice, New Mexico

In 2025, fire departments serving Eunice responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $6.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.

Updated Sep 27, 2026 Grade C- Peak yr 2023 Lea County 3,020 residents 1 reporting departments 380 5-yr

Incomplete 2025 data. Eunice's departments reported 42 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 76 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.

Total incidents
42
Not comparable with 2024 (incomplete reporting)
Building fires
2
Residential 50% Other 50%
Property loss
$6.0M
$6.0M structure · $100 contents
Deaths & injuries
1 / 0
1 civilian deaths · 0 civ injuries · 0 firefighter injuries
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 48% of all calls.

42
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 6 14.3%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 5 11.9%
Grass fire 3 7.1%
Outside storage fire 3 7.1%
Outside equipment fire 3 7.1%
All other categories 22 52.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen?

Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.

Jan 1
Feb 4
Mar 8
Apr 4
May 8
Jun 4
Jul 8
Aug 2
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 1
Dec 2
Fewer
More
2b Five-year trend

Year over year in Eunice

380 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $6.0M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.

YearIncidentsYoY 
2021 66 —
2022 102 +54.5%
2023 109 +6.9%
2024 61 -44.0%
2025* 42 —

* Well below Eunice'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.

03 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2 building fires Eunice departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.

Unintentional
52%
11
Cause undetermined
19%
4
Intentional / arson
10%
2
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
5%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
14%
3
3b Where fires start

Where do fires start in Eunice?

NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 202 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 originCountShare 
1 Open area - outside; included are farmland, field 43 21.3%
2 Highway, parking lot, street: on or near 23 11.4%
3 Outside area, other 22 10.9%
4 Undetermined 20 9.9%
5 Storage room, area, tank, or bin 15 7.4%
6 Engine area, running gear, wheel area 14 6.9%
7 Other 10 5.0%
8 Cooking area, kitchen 7 3.5%
9 Vehicle area, other 6 3.0%
10 Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles 5 2.5%
11 All other areas 37 18.3%
3c What ignited it

What actually ignited the fire?

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 Eunice mix.

#Heat sourceCountShare 
1 Undetermined 100 49.5%
2 Arcing 21 10.4%
3 Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment 13 6.4%
4 Heat source: other 12 5.9%
5 Lightning 11 5.4%
6 Molten, hot material 8 4.0%
7 Heat from powered equipment, other 6 3.0%
8 Hot ember or ash 6 3.0%
9 Heat, spark from friction 4 2.0%
10 Flame/torch used for lighting 4 2.0%
11 All other sources 17 8.4%
04 The biggest fires

1 fires · $6.0M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses reported by Eunice departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.

# Property loss Type Severity Status
1 $6,000,000 Outside gas or vapor combustion explosion Catastrophic Investigated
05 How Eunice compares

Eunice vs New Mexico vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Eunice sits above the national average for incidents per resident.

13.91
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Eunice
13.91
NM avg
11.46
US avg
7.48
0.66
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Eunice
0.66
NM avg
0.72
US avg
0.85
331.1
Civilian fire deaths per million
Eunice
331.1
NM avg
13.2
US avg
5.9
5c Wildfires nearby

Wildfires within 50 mi of Eunice

Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 595,019 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.

50 mi radius
YearCauseAcresDistance 
2011 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 106,027 21.9 mi
2006 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 92,390 48.4 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 67,008 30.3 mi
2000 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 36,324 45.8 mi
2006 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 30,000 27.9 mi
2009 Power generation/transmission/distribution 25,747 29.1 mi
2011 Equipment and vehicle use 24,781 39.7 mi
2011 Equipment and vehicle use 24,000 39.7 mi
1993 Equipment and vehicle use 19,610 21.6 mi
2008 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 16,837 34.1 mi
1998 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 16,080 24.1 mi
2006 Missing data/not specified/undetermined 15,000 31.9 mi
5d Top ZIPs

Where in Eunice do fires concentrate?

Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.

#ZIP5-yr incidents 
1 88231 380
5e Peer cities

Cities similar to Eunice

Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Eunice. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.

06 First responders

Who responds in Eunice?

1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Eunice.

Eunice Fire Department
FDID 250074 paid
07 Stay prepared

Before the next Red Flag day.

A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.

About this data

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.