In 2025, fire departments serving Ranchos de Taos responded to 85 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K 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 72% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
326 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.2M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 39 | — | |
| 2022* | 39 | — | |
| 2023 | 77 | — | |
| 2024 | 86 | +11.7% | |
| 2025 | 85 | -1.2% |
* Well below Ranchos de Taos'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 6 building fires Ranchos de Taos departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 78 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 | 24 | 30.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 21 | 26.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 7 | 9.0% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 10.3% |
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 Ranchos de Taos mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 52 | 66.7% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 6.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 5 | Arcing | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 5.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ranchos de Taos departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $3,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ranchos de Taos sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 358,045 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 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 36,740 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 28,348 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 26,525 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 16,114 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,000 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Arson/incendiarism | 12,995 | 31.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 11,149 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10,219 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,142 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,112 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 8,432 | 49.5 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 New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Ranchos de Taos. 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.