In 2025, fire departments serving Rio Rico responded to 107 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1 building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 46% of all calls.
May peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
394 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $37K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 69 | — | |
| 2022 | 80 | +15.9% | |
| 2023 | 65 | -18.8% | |
| 2024 | 73 | +12.3% | |
| 2025 | 107 | +46.6% |
For the 7 building fires Rio Rico departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 119 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 24 | 20.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 10 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 9 | 7.6% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 16.8% |
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 Rico mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 36 | 30.3% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 11 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 10 | 8.4% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 7 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 4.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 15.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Rio Rico departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rio Rico sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
136 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 | 1 | |
| 20-29 | 31 | |
| 30-39 | 56 | |
| 40-49 | 27 | |
| 50-59 | 20 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 395,554 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 68,079 | 10.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 46,991 | 22.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 38,179 | 22.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,526 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,668 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 23,183 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,369 | 12.4 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 15,405 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Recreation and ceremony | 12,015 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Recreation and ceremony | 10,775 | 14.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,610 | 28.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,711 | 7.9 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Rio Rico. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rio Rico.
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.