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 Dickinson responded to 128 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $238K building blaze. 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 64% of all calls.
Sep peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
1,064 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 239 | — | |
| 2022 | 171 | -28.5% | |
| 2023 | 241 | +40.9% | |
| 2024 | 285 | +18.3% | |
| 2025 | 128 | -55.1% |
For the 10 building fires Dickinson departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 148 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 31 | 20.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 12 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 11 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 6 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 9 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 8 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 38 | 25.7% |
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 Dickinson mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 60 | 40.5% | |
| 2 | Match | 21 | 14.2% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 11.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 10 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 7 | 4.7% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 5 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Lightning | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 9.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dickinson departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 97% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $238,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $59,800 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $51,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dickinson sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 69,584 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,976 | 42.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,668 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,260 | 45.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 5,021 | 35.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 4,856 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,028 | 22.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,016 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,741 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,982 | 49.1 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,550 | 25.7 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,300 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 2,254 | 38.2 mi |
Top 5 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 Dickinson. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Dickinson.
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.