In 2025, fire departments serving Rio Rancho responded to 375 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $302K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,963 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $9.5M cumulative property loss. 6 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 349 | — | |
| 2022 | 376 | +7.7% | |
| 2023 | 410 | +9.0% | |
| 2024 | 453 | +10.5% | |
| 2025 | 375 | -17.2% |
For the 20 building fires Rio Rancho departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 538 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 | 117 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 65 | 12.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 59 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 47 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 32 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Wall surface: exterior | 21 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 125 | 23.2% |
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 Rio Rancho mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 247 | 45.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 33 | 6.1% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 28 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 26 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 23 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 22 | 4.1% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 16 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Fireworks | 15 | 2.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 87 | 16.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rio Rancho departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 87% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $302,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $187,698 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $125,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $106,393 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $79,225 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $40,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rio Rancho sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
24 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 | 6 | |
| 30-39 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 4 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 3 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 327,911 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 156,593 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 47,650 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 23,938 | 42.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 17,912 | 37.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 16,575 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Recreation and ceremony | 13,709 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,000 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 5,478 | 39.9 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 5,162 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 4,303 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 4,150 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 4,026 | 38.0 mi |
Top 10 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 Rio Rancho. 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.