In 2025, fire departments serving Flora Vista responded to 25 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
136 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $106K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 41 | — | |
| 2022 | 39 | -4.9% | |
| 2023* | 1 | — | |
| 2024 | 30 | — | |
| 2025 | 25 | -16.7% |
* Well below Flora Vista'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 0 building fires Flora Vista departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 46 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 | 16 | 34.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 23.9% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 8 | 17.4% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 7 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 2.2% |
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 Flora Vista mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 6 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 8.7% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.3% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Flora Vista departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Flora Vista sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 202,077 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 73,121 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54,129 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 23,220 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,133 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 7,271 | 22.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 4,781 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,593 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,888 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 2,905 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 2,744 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,601 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 2,381 | 31.2 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87415 | 136 |
Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Flora Vista. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.