In 2025, fire departments serving Lake Arthur responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 94% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
73 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $136K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 17 | — | |
| 2023 | 13 | -23.5% | |
| 2024 | 19 | +46.2% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -5.3% |
* Well below Lake Arthur'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 1 building fires Lake Arthur departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 35 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 | 11 | 31.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 5 | Vacant structural area | 3 | 8.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 8 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Switchgear area, transformer vault | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Structural area, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 5.7% |
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 Lake Arthur mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 22 | 62.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 3 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Match | 2 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Arthur departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Arthur sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 515,765 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 92,390 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 64,936 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 40,333 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,324 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 35,165 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 29,952 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 25,329 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,781 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 21,510 | 43.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 18,199 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,837 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 16,141 | 47.5 mi |
Top 2 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 Lake Arthur. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake Arthur.
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.