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 Big Lake responded to 27 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 63% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
28 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $5.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 0 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 27 | — |
* Well below Big Lake'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 Big Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 15 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 | Other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 9 | Exterior, exposed surface | 1 | 6.7% |
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 Big Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 4 | 26.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 13.3% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.7% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 6.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Big Lake departments in 2025. These 3 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000,000 | Outside storage fire | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $80,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $10,000 | Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Big Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 591,032 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 220,000 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 98,168 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 63,427 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 42,110 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 39,812 | 48.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 22,958 | 26.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,000 | 28.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 11,348 | 35.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 19.4 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,983 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 6,006 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,000 | 7.9 mi |
Top 3 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Big Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Big Lake.
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.