In 2025, fire departments serving Rio Verde responded to 14 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 93% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
45 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $7K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 9 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | +55.6% | |
| 2024 | 8 | -42.9% | |
| 2025 | 14 | +75.0% |
* Well below Rio Verde'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 0 building fires Rio Verde departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 14 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Sales area, showroom (exclude display window) | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Function area, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 10 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 1 | 7.1% |
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 Rio Verde mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 3 | 21.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 2 | 14.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 1 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 7.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rio Verde sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,121,185 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2005 | Natural | 248,310 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 193,455 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2019 | Recreation and ceremony | 123,875 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 119,500 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 72,000 | 12.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 58,960 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,550 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 30,641 | 44.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 24,729 | 31.3 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 24,505 | 6.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 22,092 | 16.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 21,670 | 45.8 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 Arizona cities with population within ±25% of Rio Verde. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Rio Verde.
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.