In 2025, fire departments serving Mesquite responded to 64 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1.0M 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 47% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
370 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $3.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 80 | — | |
| 2022 | 104 | +30.0% | |
| 2023 | 56 | -46.2% | |
| 2024 | 66 | +17.9% | |
| 2025 | 64 | -3.0% |
For the 6 building fires Mesquite departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 234 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 | 37 | 15.8% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 26 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 26 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 25 | 10.7% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 8.5% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 9 | Other | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 49 | 20.9% |
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 Mesquite mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 101 | 43.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 13 | 5.6% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 12 | 5.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 11 | 4.7% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 9 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 8 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Match | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 47 | 20.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Mesquite departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 99% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $500,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $20,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $15,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mesquite sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,310,787 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 238,058 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 168,293 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 149,131 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 65,480 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 59,265 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 56,003 | 11.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 50,737 | 24.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 44,707 | 20.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 43,245 | 37.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 43,000 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 41,451 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 38,628 | 24.4 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Mesquite. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Mesquite.
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.