In 2025, fire departments serving Tularosa responded to 39 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Tularosa's departments reported 39 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 65 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
Feb peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
326 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $928K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 98 | +108.5% | |
| 2023 | 69 | -29.6% | |
| 2024 | 73 | +5.8% | |
| 2025* | 39 | — |
* Well below Tularosa'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 5 building fires Tularosa departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 60 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 | 36 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 7 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 6 | Assembly area - less than 100 persons | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Closet | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 8.3% |
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 Tularosa mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 78.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 1.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tularosa sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 405,115 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 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 64,488 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 40,000 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 31,861 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Arson/incendiarism | 19,000 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,422 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 16,034 | 30.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 16,020 | 28.3 mi | |
| 1992 | Equipment and vehicle use | 12,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Fireworks | 10,334 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 9,428 | 43.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,260 | 18.0 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 New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Tularosa. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Tularosa.
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.