In 2025, fire departments serving Gallup responded to 364 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $163K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fires in structures other than in a building lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,557 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 317 | — | |
| 2022 | 325 | +2.5% | |
| 2023 | 254 | -21.8% | |
| 2024 | 297 | +16.9% | |
| 2025 | 364 | +22.6% |
For the 16 building fires Gallup departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 877 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 | 317 | 36.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 183 | 20.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 85 | 9.7% | |
| 4 | Other | 50 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 36 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 25 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 20 | 2.3% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 19 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 16 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 15 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 111 | 12.7% |
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 Gallup mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 615 | 70.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 68 | 7.8% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 29 | 3.3% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 25 | 2.9% | |
| 5 | Match | 18 | 2.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 14 | 1.6% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 14 | 1.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 11 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 11 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 61 | 7.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Gallup departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $163,160 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $5,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $3,977 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Gallup sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 4 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 66,929 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 14,712 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 12,861 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 9,338 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2004 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 8,595 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,473 | 39.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 3,392 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Debris and open burning | 2,780 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,701 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,655 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 1,122 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 750 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 740 | 46.6 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 Gallup. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Gallup.
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.