In 2025, fire departments serving Questa responded to 26 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $500 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
155 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $179K cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 33 | -35.3% | |
| 2023 | 26 | -21.2% | |
| 2024 | 19 | -26.9% | |
| 2025 | 26 | +36.8% |
For the 6 building fires Questa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 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 | 8 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 3 | Egress/exit, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 8 | Vacant structural area | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 9 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 7.7% |
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 Questa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 8 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 15.4% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Sunlight | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Questa departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $500 | Trash or rubbish fire, contained | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Questa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
6 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 3 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 313,268 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 92,194 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,740 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 33,000 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,525 | 39.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 16,114 | 47.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,142 | 34.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 8,432 | 38.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 7,525 | 6.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,495 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,020 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 6,275 | 35.3 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 Questa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Questa.
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.