In 2025, fire departments serving Mesilla responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Fire, other lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jul dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
37 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $32K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 2 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 18 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | -16.7% |
* Well below Mesilla'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 0 building fires Mesilla departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Laboratory | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Undetermined | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Mesilla mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 6 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Match | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mesilla departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $300 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mesilla sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 84,652 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1994 | Natural | 13,804 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,424 | 18.9 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 11,856 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,160 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 5,045 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,000 | 45.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 3,650 | 36.5 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 2,800 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,582 | 14.0 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,400 | 32.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 2,150 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 31.0 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 Mesilla. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mesilla.
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.