In 2025, fire departments serving Prewitt responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Road freight or transport vehicle fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 56% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
71 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 8 | — | |
| 2022 | 20 | — | |
| 2023 | 12 | -40.0% | |
| 2024 | 13 | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | 18 | +38.5% |
* Well below Prewitt'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 Prewitt departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 32 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 | 34.4% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 6 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 1 | 3.1% |
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 Prewitt mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 13 | 40.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 15.6% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 9.4% | |
| 5 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Cigarette | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 3.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Prewitt sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 62,768 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 15,850 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 9,338 | 13.2 mi | |
| 2004 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 8,595 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 5,162 | 30.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Recreation and ceremony | 3,473 | 9.1 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,382 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 2,100 | 31.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 2,075 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,701 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 1,276 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 1,200 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 1,003 | 27.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87045 | 71 |
Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Prewitt. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Prewitt.
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.