New Mexico · NERIS
NERIS reporting in New Mexico
Most New Mexico fire departments that report a type carry no paid staff at all, and NERIS asks the same detailed report of a two-person volunteer crew as it does of a full-time department.
Fire departments in New Mexico
- Departments in the directory
- 292
- Volunteer departments
- 72%
- Volunteer or combination
- 88%
- Stations
- 728
157 of 217 departments that report a department type
191 of 217 departments that report a department type
reported by 266 departments
Across the 263 New Mexico departments that report staffing, the directory holds 4,107 volunteer firefighters and 3,267 career firefighters; 56% of those counted are volunteers.
Source: the NERIS public department directory, as mirrored in our departments table on July 28, 2026. Percentages are stated against the number of departments that actually reported the field, which is always shown next to them. Departments that reported nothing are not counted as zero and no figure here is estimated.
More than two volunteer-only departments for every one with paid staff
New Mexico’s fire-department directory lists 292 entries, 217 of which say what type of department they are: 157 volunteer, 34 combination, 26 career. Everything else amounts to 60 combination and career departments with at least one paid firefighter on the roster; weigh the volunteer-only group against that and the ratio lands past two and a half to one. Most New Mexico departments that answered the question have no one on payroll at all, which also means no one whose job includes catching up a report backlog. The same person who ran the call typically ends up writing the report on it too.
Few departments, most of the payroll
That volunteer-heavy shape thins out once you look at where the paid positions are. New Mexico’s 26 career departments are just 12% of the 217 that report a type, yet across the 263 departments that report firefighter staffing, career firefighters total 3,267 of 7,374 counted statewide — 44% of the headcount, concentrated in a department type that’s only 12% of the ones that answered what they are. The remaining 4,107 counted firefighters, all volunteers, are spread across a much larger group of departments. A small tier holds most of the state’s paid capacity; the larger tier runs on people who aren’t paid and still owe NERIS the same report as everyone else.
What the rest of the directory says
728 stations are reported across 266 of New Mexico’s 292 departments. That works out to about 2.7 for every one that answered, more than a single firehouse per department on average. Population protected is thinner: only 135 departments, 46%, have entered a figure, summing to 986,578 people. That’s under half the roster, and too thin a slice to total into a statewide coverage figure, so this page doesn’t.
What trying it costs a volunteer-only department
Nothing above needs settling first. Talk through one real call out loud, the same way you’d already explain it to whoever asks what happened, and see what the review screen turns it into before deciding anything else. That first pass doesn’t open a NERIS account, doesn’t import a roster, and doesn’t depend on any other New Mexico department having tried it first.
Worth knowing about New Mexico
New Mexico has 292 fire departments in the NERIS public directory, and 217 of them report a department type: 157 volunteer, 34 combination, 26 career.
Source: snapshot: NM.department_count, NM.by_department_type, NM.departments_with_type_data
New Mexico's 157 volunteer-only departments outnumber its 60 combination-and-career departments — the ones with at least one paid firefighter on the roster — by more than two and a half to one.
Source: snapshot: NM.by_department_type, NM.departments_with_type_data
The state's 26 career departments are 12% of the 217 that report a type, but across the 263 departments that report firefighter staffing, career firefighters total 3,267 of 7,374 counted statewide — 44% of the headcount concentrated in 12% of the departments.
Source: snapshot: NM.firefighters_career_sum, NM.firefighters_volunteer_sum, NM.departments_with_staffing_data, NM.by_department_type, NM.departments_with_type_data
728 stations are reported across 266 of New Mexico's 292 departments — about 2.7 stations for every department that answered.
Source: snapshot: NM.station_count_sum, NM.departments_with_station_data
Only 135 of New Mexico's 292 departments — 46% — report the population they protect, summing to 986,578; that's under half the roster, so this page doesn't total it into a statewide coverage figure.
Source: snapshot: NM.population_protected_sum, NM.departments_with_population_data, NM.department_count
What changed
NERIS replaced NFIRS as the federal fire incident reporting standard onFebruary 1, 2026. It is a different shape of report, not a renamed one: modules instead of flat forms, a three-level text hierarchy instead of numeric incident codes, and an API instead of a file you upload.
What actually changed, in detail · NERIS onboarding (FSRI) · Department sign-up
About grant applications
An Assistance to Firefighters Grant application asks what a department responds to and how it's staffed — a different form asking for some of the same operational picture NERIS collects. Nothing we've seen ties NERIS reporting to how those applications get scored, and we're not positioned to guess at a federal program's own rules — read what AFG actually publishes, not a reporting vendor's page. The narrower point holds regardless: an application filled in from reports that already exist takes less time than one filled in from a stack of calls somebody still has to sit down and remember.
We are a vendor, not a grant advisor. Do not take our word for what any grant program requires. Read the current notice of funding opportunity or ask your state's grant coordinator.
Try it on a real New Mexico call
Record one incident, read the report it produces, and decide from there. No account, no card, no call with anyone.
FireMic is a private company. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or recommended by any New Mexico state agency, USFA, FSRI, or FEMA. State fire officials do not endorse vendors, and nothing on this page should be read as suggesting otherwise.
Department figures: FireMic Supabase departments table (mirror of the NERIS public department directory, ArcGIS layer 0). Snapshot taken July 28, 2026.