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 Falfurrias responded to 48 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 56% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
366 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 90 | — | |
| 2022 | 126 | +40.0% | |
| 2023 | 60 | -52.4% | |
| 2024* | 42 | — | |
| 2025 | 48 | — |
* Well below Falfurrias'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 3 building fires Falfurrias departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 271 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 | 110 | 40.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 66 | 24.4% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 16 | 5.9% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 12 | 4.4% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 11 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 3.7% | |
| 7 | Other | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 20 | 7.4% |
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 Falfurrias mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 185 | 68.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 8.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 17 | 6.3% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 9 | 3.3% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 7 | 2.6% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 1.5% | |
| 9 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 0.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 4.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Falfurrias sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 187,065 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 30,000 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 25,600 | 46.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Recreation and ceremony | 14,240 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 14,210 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 12,998 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 10,000 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,000 | 16.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2009 | Arson/incendiarism | 7,157 | 47.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 6,400 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 5,933 | 49.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 4,800 | 8.4 mi |
Top 4 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 Falfurrias. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Falfurrias.
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.