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2025 County Report

Fires in McKinley County, NM

In 2025, fire departments serving McKinley County responded to 621 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $163K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

52,544 residents FIPS 35031 79 cities · 0 fire depts
Total incidents
621
2,651 across 5 years
Building fires
44
152 wildland
Property loss
$410K
$305K structure · $105K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 3 civ inj · 1 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 62% of all calls.

621
Total Incidents
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 126 20.3%
Fires in structures other than in a building 90 14.5%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 67 10.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 58 9.3%
Building fires 44 7.1%
All other categories 236 38.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in McKinley County?

Jul peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 74
Feb 49
Mar 45
Apr 50
May 72
Jun 63
Jul 75
Aug 45
Sep 36
Oct 33
Nov 49
Dec 30
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in McKinley County

2,651 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 554
2022 544
2023 432
2024 500
2025 621
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 44 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
27%
63
Cause undetermined
16%
37
Intentional / arson
34%
79
Equipment / heat source failure
7%
17
Under investigation
15%
34
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $297K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in McKinley County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $163,160 Gallup Building fires Significant
2 $50,000 Gallup Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
3 $50,000 Gallup Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
4 $10,000 Gallup Building fires Significant
5 $5,000 Gallup Building fires Significant
6 $5,000 Gallup Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire Significant
7 $5,000 Gallup Building fires Significant
8 $3,977 Gallup Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $3,000 Gamerco Building fires Significant
10 $2,000 Gallup Building fires Significant
06 How McKinley County compares

McKinley County vs NM vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.82
Incidents per 1,000 residents
McKinley County
11.82
NM avg
11.48
US avg
7.15
0.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
McKinley County
0.84
NM avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
McKinley County
0
NM avg
13.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in McKinley County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 35031.

09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in NM

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

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Hermits Peak 2022 USFS 341,734
2 Black 2022 USFS 325,135
3 Calf Canyon 2022 USFS 299,792
4 Las Conchas 2011 NPS 156,989
5 Donaldson 2011 USFS 96,129
6 Johnson 2021 USFS 94,786
7 Miller 2011 USFS 88,880
8 Miller 2011 NPS 88,817
9 Ponil 2002 USFS 86,557
10 Pass 2023 USFS 59,934

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.