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 Canyon responded to 144 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Nov peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
840 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $2.8M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 178 | — | |
| 2022 | 228 | +28.1% | |
| 2023 | 208 | -8.8% | |
| 2024* | 82 | — | |
| 2025 | 144 | — |
* Well below Canyon'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 5 building fires Canyon departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 295 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 | Undetermined | 66 | 22.4% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 29 | 9.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 28 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 26 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 23 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 22 | 7.5% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 22 | 7.5% | |
| 8 | Other | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 55 | 18.6% |
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 Canyon mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 186 | 63.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 15 | 5.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 14 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 12 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 11 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 10 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 9 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 8 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 6 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 5 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 19 | 6.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Canyon sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 453,237 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Natural | 75,530 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 60,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 28,800 | 23.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 24,310 | 20.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 23,827 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 23,000 | 48.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 20,000 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 20,000 | 45.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,803 | 4.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 16,000 | 18.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 15,682 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 15,280 | 49.8 mi |
Top 6 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 Canyon. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Canyon.
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.