In 2025, fire departments serving Loving responded to 180 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 78% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
523 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $120K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 53 | — | |
| 2022 | 69 | — | |
| 2023 | 81 | +17.4% | |
| 2024 | 140 | +72.8% | |
| 2025 | 180 | +28.6% |
* Well below Loving'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 4 building fires Loving departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 152 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 | 32 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 25 | 16.4% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 15 | 9.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 14 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Other | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 32 | 21.1% |
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 Loving mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 70 | 46.1% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 13 | 8.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 11 | 7.2% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 8 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 4.6% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 9.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Loving sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 365,507 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 53,342 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 49,092 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Arson/incendiarism | 30,487 | 24.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,000 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 25,747 | 49.5 mi | |
| 1993 | Equipment and vehicle use | 19,610 | 38.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 18,835 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 17,309 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,837 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,000 | 43.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 10,050 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 38.4 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 Loving. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Loving.
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.