In 2025, fire departments serving Waterflow responded to 28 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 71% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
94 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $8K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 28 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | -25.0% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 15 | — | |
| 2025 | 28 | +86.7% |
* Well below Waterflow'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 2 building fires Waterflow departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 47 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 | 17 | 36.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 8 | 17.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 17.0% | |
| 4 | Other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Storage area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 6.4% |
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 Waterflow mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 28 | 59.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 5 | 10.6% | |
| 3 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 6.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 2 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Sunlight | 1 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waterflow sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 75,074 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | Natural | 23,220 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,133 | 36.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 7,271 | 37.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 4,781 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,033 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 3,888 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 2,905 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 2,744 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 2,601 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Natural | 2,381 | 33.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 1,550 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 1,360 | 31.3 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 87421 | 94 |
Six New Mexico cities with population within ±25% of Waterflow. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.