In 2025, fire departments serving Pahrump responded to 430 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $450K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,008 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.0M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 400 | — | |
| 2022 | 434 | +8.5% | |
| 2023 | 435 | +0.2% | |
| 2024 | 309 | -29.0% | |
| 2025 | 430 | +39.2% |
For the 26 building fires Pahrump departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 603 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 | 115 | 19.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 87 | 14.4% | |
| 3 | Cooking area, kitchen | 42 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 39 | 6.5% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 28 | 4.6% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 28 | 4.6% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 27 | 4.5% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 24 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Function area, other | 23 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Outside area, other | 21 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 169 | 28.0% |
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 Pahrump mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 331 | 54.9% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 60 | 10.0% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 60 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 42 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 13 | 2.2% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 11 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 10 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 1.5% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 8 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 49 | 8.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Pahrump departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 73% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $450,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $45,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Pahrump sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
108 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 5 | |
| 30-39 | 12 | |
| 40-49 | 10 | |
| 50-59 | 9 | |
| 60-69 | 9 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 4 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 115,339 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 33,569 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 27,883 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 22,000 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,340 | 21.0 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 3,500 | 27.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 2,817 | 36.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Recreation and ceremony | 2,758 | 21.9 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 2,000 | 15.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,988 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,950 | 26.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 1,670 | 24.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,500 | 30.2 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 Nevada cities with population within ±25% of Pahrump. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.