In 2025, fire departments serving Silver City responded to 147 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $100K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,037 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $5.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 238 | — | |
| 2022 | 176 | -26.1% | |
| 2023 | 254 | +44.3% | |
| 2024 | 222 | -12.6% | |
| 2025 | 147 | -33.8% |
For the 9 building fires Silver City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 457 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 83 | 18.2% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 68 | 14.9% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 51 | 11.2% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 45 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 31 | 6.8% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 30 | 6.6% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 19 | 4.2% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 17 | 3.7% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 86 | 18.8% |
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 Silver City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 238 | 52.1% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 38 | 8.3% | |
| 3 | Cigarette lighter | 30 | 6.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 24 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Match | 14 | 3.1% | |
| 7 | Heat source: other | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 13 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 10 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 53 | 11.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silver City departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 94% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $100,000 | Fire in mobile home used as fixed residence | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $9,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silver City sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
21 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 | 1 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 8 | |
| 30-39 | 3 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,236,586 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Natural | 297,845 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 234,000 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 88,835 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 77,000 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 65,000 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Recreation and ceremony | 55,307 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 37,600 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 34,941 | 49.4 mi | |
| 1993 | Natural | 32,000 | 24.9 mi | |
| 1992 | Natural | 29,000 | 38.2 mi | |
| 1995 | Natural | 29,000 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 27,600 | 41.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Silver City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Silver City.
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.