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.
TX
In 2025, fire departments serving Del Rio responded to 340 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $327K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Del Rio's departments reported 340 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 756 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 43% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,780 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.7M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 1,315 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,285 | -2.3% | |
| 2023 | 475 | -63.0% | |
| 2024* | 365 | — | |
| 2025* | 340 | — |
* Well below Del Rio'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 33 building fires Del Rio departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 689 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 | 141 | 20.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 80 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 76 | 11.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 63 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 56 | 8.1% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 36 | 5.2% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 20 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 18 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 14 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Other | 13 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 172 | 25.0% |
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 Del Rio mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 352 | 51.1% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 45 | 6.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 38 | 5.5% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 29 | 4.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 29 | 4.2% | |
| 6 | Cigarette lighter | 25 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 24 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Match | 19 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 15 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 13 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 100 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Del Rio departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 85% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $327,327 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $110,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $95,757 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $70,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $65,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $34,054 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Del Rio sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
16 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 9 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 2 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 28,566 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 2,538 | 29.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,100 | 30.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,100 | 25.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 1,750 | 40.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 3.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 3.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,271 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,200 | 3.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,090 | 3.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,050 | 29.4 mi |
Top 2 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 Del Rio. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Del Rio.
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.