Ross Fire in North Texas Reaches 100% Containment After 90,000-Acre Run
The Ross Fire near Palo Pinto, Texas burned about 90,000 acres and destroyed at least 167 structures before crews fully contained it on Sept. 16.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Ames responded to 12 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 67% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
53 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $472K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 5 | — | |
| 2022* | 4 | — | |
| 2023 | 23 | — | |
| 2024 | 9 | -60.9% | |
| 2025 | 12 | +33.3% |
* Well below Ames's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Ames departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 26 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outside area, other | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 3 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 19.2% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 3.8% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Ames mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 12 | 46.2% | |
| 2 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 7.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Conducted heat from another fire | 1 | 3.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Ames departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Ames sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 166,847 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,169 | 40.3 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 13,400 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 13,000 | 41.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,912 | 44.7 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,000 | 44.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 8,358 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,972 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,091 | 42.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,670 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,976 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,668 | 40.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,388 | 43.7 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 77575 | 53 |
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Ames. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.