In 2025, fire departments serving Ruidoso responded to 180 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 64% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,081 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.7M cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 196 | — | |
| 2022 | 263 | +34.2% | |
| 2023 | 207 | -21.3% | |
| 2024 | 235 | +13.5% | |
| 2025 | 180 | -23.4% |
For the 7 building fires Ruidoso departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 128 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 | 27 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 14 | 10.9% | |
| 3 | Other | 10 | 7.8% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 7 | 5.5% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 10 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 35 | 27.3% |
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 Ruidoso mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 54 | 42.2% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 12 | 9.4% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Match | 9 | 7.0% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 6 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 3 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 18 | 14.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ruidoso departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $100 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ruidoso sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
9 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 5 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 517,679 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 101,562 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 64,488 | 20.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 40,000 | 11.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 35,165 | 38.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 31,861 | 33.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 25,329 | 33.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 18,199 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,422 | 9.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 16,141 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 16,034 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 16,020 | 36.2 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,000 | 29.2 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 Ruidoso. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Ruidoso.
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.