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2025 County Report

Fires in Cochise County, AZ

In 2025, fire departments serving Cochise County responded to 429 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $200K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

103,723 residents FIPS 04003 84 cities · 7 fire depts
Total incidents
429
2,824 across 5 years
Building fires
45
100 wildland
Property loss
$1.0M
$785K structure · $252K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 42% of all calls.

429
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 54 12.6%
Building fires 45 10.5%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 30 7.0%
Unauthorized burning 27 6.3%
Hazardous condition, other 25 5.8%
All other categories 248 57.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cochise County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 40
Feb 38
Mar 59
Apr 54
May 36
Jun 40
Jul 38
Aug 23
Sep 31
Oct 30
Nov 18
Dec 22
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cochise County

2,824 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 458
2022 733
2023 806
2024 398
2025 429
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 45 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
42%
51
Cause undetermined
26%
31
Intentional / arson
12%
15
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
9
Under investigation
9%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $709K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cochise County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 90% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $200,000 Benson Building fires Significant
2 $189,000 Sierra Vista Building fires Significant
3 $150,000 BISBEE Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Portal Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $50,000 Sierra Vista Building fires Significant
6 $20,000 BISBEE Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 Saint David Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
8 $10,000 BISBEE Building fires Significant
9 $10,000 BISBEE Building fires Significant
10 $10,000 BISBEE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
06 How Cochise County compares

Cochise County vs AZ vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

4.14
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cochise County
4.14
AZ avg
4.85
US avg
7.15
0.43
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cochise County
0.43
AZ avg
0.46
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cochise County
0
AZ avg
3
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cochise County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 04003.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cochise County

7 departments report from this county.

Bisbee Fire Department
Bisbee
FDID 02015 99 incidents 18 paid
Benson Volunteer Fire Department
Benson
FDID 02021 42 incidents
St David Fire Department
St David
FDID 02201 39 incidents
Elfrida Fire District
Elfrida
FDID 02062 18 incidents
Tombstone Fire Department
Tombstone
FDID 02232 0 incidents
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in AZ

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Rodeo-Chediski 2002 USFS 460,563
2 Horseshoe 2 2011 NPS 222,989
3 Bush 2020 USFS 193,603
4 Telegraph 2021 USFS 180,756
5 Woodbury Fire 2019 NPS 123,973
6 Woodbury 2019 USFS 123,832
7 BIGHORN 2020 USFS 119,634
8 Rafael 2021 USFS 78,064
9 MESCAL 2021 BLM 72,250
10 MANGUM 2020 USFS 71,484

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.