Areas served · New Mexico
Forensic Engineering in Santa Fe
In and around Santa Fe
What we investigate in Santa Fe
Wildfire off the Sangre de Cristo foothills is the risk that defines Santa Fe, and it sits alongside monsoon flash flooding, expansive-clay movement, and a historic core built of earthen adobe. We investigate what actually failed and document it to a standard that holds, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours with no travel charges.
The conditions we see in Santa Fe
Wildfire is Santa Fe's top hazard. A First Street analysis finds roughly 79 percent of buildings in the city carry some wildfire risk, and the wildland-urban interface reaches into the foothills right at the city's edge. The 2022 Calf Canyon/Hermits Peak Fire burned 341,471 acres in the Sangre de Cristo Mountains, the largest wildfire in New Mexico history, and destroyed several hundred structures. The North American Monsoon then loads a second hazard onto the same ground: intense thunderstorms from late June into early September drop more rain than the soil can absorb and send flash floods down normally dry arroyos and culverts.
Santa Fe's historic core is defined by earthen construction, adobe and stucco-over-adobe walls with flat roofs in the Spanish Pueblo and Territorial styles, preserved by a 1957 historic zoning ordinance that still mandates the Old Santa Fe Style. Wood frame and stuccoed frame fill the newer neighborhoods and foothills. The city sits near 7,000 feet, bringing hard freezes and deep freeze-thaw cycling, and the local soils run to clay-rich loams that shrink and swell with moisture. Older adobe and masonry respond to fire, freeze-thaw, and clay movement differently than modern frame.
How we help in Santa Fe
The evaluations Santa Fe cases usually call for
- Adobe, soil, and structural evaluation
When an adobe wall cracks, a stucco face separates, or a slab moves, the cause can be shrink-swell in the clay-rich Santa Fe soil, freeze-thaw at elevation, moisture trapped in earthen walls, or a construction defect. Our licensed engineers evaluate the structure and the soil behavior together and document which one is responsible.
Our structural engineering services- Flash-flood and water loss investigation
After a monsoon storm sends water down an arroyo or overwhelms a culvert, we determine whether the damage came from the flood, from moisture moving through earthen walls, or from a condition that predated the event. That distinction decides the claim, so we ground it in the physical evidence rather than assumption.
Our forensic engineering services
Fire origin & cause
Fire origin and cause in Santa Fe
Much of the fire loss here starts at the wildland-urban interface, where a fire in the Sangre de Cristo foothills reaches homes at the city edge, but the cold high-desert winter drives its own losses through heating systems and chimney and kiva-fireplace fires, and older adobe and masonry buildings carry aged or added wiring that fails under load. When a fire moves fast in dry fuel or hides inside thick earthen walls, the origin evidence is easy to lose, and reading where and how it began is what a claim turns on.
Our NAFI-certified investigators build every determination on NFPA 921. They examine the scene systematically, trace the burn and char patterns back to the area of origin, evaluate the electrical and mechanical systems, and rule out ignition sources until the physical evidence supports one conclusion, accidental or incendiary. The same investigator preserves the evidence early, issues the written findings, and testifies to them at deposition and trial.
Fires we investigate
- Residential and commercial fires
- Wildland-urban interface fires
- Heating-system and chimney or kiva-fireplace fires
- Electrical and appliance fires in older adobe and masonry
- Vehicle fires
Common questions
Forensic engineering in Santa Fe, New Mexico
A different question about your case? An engineer, not a call center, answers within 24 hours.
Is a crack in an adobe wall a soil problem or a structural one?
It can be either. The clay-rich Santa Fe soil shrinks and swells enough to move a footing, and freeze-thaw at elevation adds to it, but moisture in earthen walls, drainage, and construction defects produce similar cracking. We evaluate the evidence before assigning a cause.
Can you tell wildfire damage from damage that was already there?
Yes. Separating fire, ember, and smoke damage from pre-existing wear or a defect is a core part of a wildfire loss investigation at the foothill edge, and it is usually the point the claim turns on.
Do you charge travel to reach Santa Fe?
No. We work Santa Fe-area cases from our Omaha lab and Los Angeles office with no travel charges, and a licensed engineer responds within 24 hours.
Have a loss that needs answers?
Tell us what happened. An engineer, not a call center, will review your case.