In 2025, fire departments serving Hatch responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
127 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $8K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 23 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | +0.0% | |
| 2023 | 27 | +17.4% | |
| 2024 | 24 | -11.1% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +25.0% |
For the 2 building fires Hatch departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | 26 | 32.9% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 17 | 21.5% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 17.7% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Bedroom - 5+ persons; including barrack/dormitory | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Dining room, cafeteria bar area, beverage service | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 9 | 11.4% |
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 Hatch mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 58 | 73.4% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 6 | Match | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hatch departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Fire in mobile prop. used as a fixed struc., other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hatch sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 323,100 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Natural | 234,000 | 40.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 13,804 | 26.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,424 | 47.1 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 11,856 | 8.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 5,300 | 49.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,160 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,045 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 3,900 | 42.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,650 | 36.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 2,800 | 21.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,582 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 13.2 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 | 87937 | 127 |
Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Hatch. 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.