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2025 County Report

Fires in Mora County, NM

In 2025, fire departments serving Mora County responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

1,343 residents FIPS 35033 37 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
32
429 across 5 years
Building fires
4
16 wildland
Property loss
$338K
$310K structure · $28K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 75% of all calls.

32
Total Incidents
Grass fire 9 28.1%
Building fires 4 12.5%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 4 12.5%
Authorized controlled burning 4 12.5%
Forest, woods or wildland fire 3 9.4%
All other categories 8 25.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Mora County?

Mar peaks. Jul dips.

Jan 5
Feb 7
Mar 8
Apr 5
May 3
Jun 1
Jul 0
Aug 3
Sep 0
Oct 0
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Mora County

429 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 89
2022 113
2023 112
2024 83
2025 32
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 4 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
50%
2
Cause undetermined
25%
1
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
0%
0
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
25%
1
05 The biggest fires

2 fires · $310K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Mora County during 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Watrous Building fires Major
2 $10,000 Watrous Fires in structures other than in a building Significant
06 How Mora County compares

Mora County vs NM vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

23.83
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Mora County
23.83
NM avg
11.48
US avg
7.15
2.98
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Mora County
2.98
NM avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Mora County
0
NM avg
13.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Mora County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 35033.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Mora County

9 departments report from this county.

CHET Fire Department
Cleveland
FDID 33012 8 incidents 20 vol
Sierra Bonita Fire Department
Guadalupita
FDID 33055 7 incidents
Rainsville Fire Department
Rainsville
FDID 33037 6 incidents 16 vol
Golondrinas Fire Department
BUENA VISTA
FDID 33013 4 incidents 4 vol
Buena Vista Fire Department
Buena Vista
FDID 33003 2 incidents 15 vol
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.