In 2025, fire departments serving Hobbs responded to 386 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,530 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $727K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 495 | — | |
| 2022 | 540 | +9.1% | |
| 2023 | 580 | +7.4% | |
| 2024 | 529 | -8.8% | |
| 2025 | 386 | -27.0% |
For the 27 building fires Hobbs departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1,279 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 | 421 | 32.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 269 | 21.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 151 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 47 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 36 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 33 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 32 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 22 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 199 | 15.6% |
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 Hobbs mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 916 | 71.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 73 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 37 | 2.9% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 29 | 2.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 27 | 2.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 26 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 25 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 24 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 20 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 77 | 6.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Hobbs departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $20,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $6,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $1,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $130 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $1 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hobbs sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 765,303 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 106,027 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92,390 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 67,008 | 17.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 64,936 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40,333 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,324 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,000 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 25,747 | 19.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,781 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,000 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,000 | 46.4 mi |
Top 5 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 Hobbs. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hobbs.
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.