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2025 County Report

Fires in Roosevelt County, NM

In 2025, fire departments serving Roosevelt County responded to 195 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

12,663 residents FIPS 35041 25 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
195
1,297 across 5 years
Building fires
16
41 wildland
Property loss
$572K
$421K structure · $151K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 54% of all calls.

195
Total Incidents
Grass fire 33 16.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 30 15.4%
Building fires 16 8.2%
Outside rubbish fire, other 16 8.2%
Trash or rubbish fire, contained 11 5.6%
All other categories 89 45.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Roosevelt County?

Mar peaks. Oct dips.

Jan 20
Feb 28
Mar 32
Apr 24
May 7
Jun 22
Jul 17
Aug 12
Sep 9
Oct 5
Nov 12
Dec 7
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Roosevelt County

1,297 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 220
2022 371
2023 280
2024 231
2025 195
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 16 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
38%
15
Cause undetermined
44%
17
Intentional / arson
0%
0
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
1
Under investigation
13%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
1
05 The biggest fires

7 fires · $421K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Roosevelt County during 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Milnesand Grass fire Significant
2 $100,000 Milnesand Grass fire Significant
3 $100,000 Milnesand Grass fire Significant
4 $35,000 Dora Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $25,000 Milnesand Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $10,000 Milnesand Passenger vehicle fire Significant
7 $500 Milinsand Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
06 How Roosevelt County compares

Roosevelt County vs NM vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

15.4
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Roosevelt County
15.4
NM avg
11.48
US avg
7.15
1.26
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Roosevelt County
1.26
NM avg
0.72
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Roosevelt County
0
NM avg
13.2
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Roosevelt County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 35041.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Roosevelt County

3 departments report from this county.

Portales Fire Department
Portales
FDID 41043 162 incidents 23 paid
Milnesand Fire Department
Milnesand
FDID 41037 7 incidents 20 vol
Arch Fire Department
Portales
FDID 41007 3 incidents 28 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.