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 Galveston responded to 552 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $4.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
2,805 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $15.1M cumulative property loss. 7 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 519 | — | |
| 2022 | 343 | -33.9% | |
| 2023 | 608 | +77.3% | |
| 2024 | 783 | +28.8% | |
| 2025 | 552 | -29.5% |
For the 60 building fires Galveston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 548 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 | 74 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 57 | 10.4% | |
| 3 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 44 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 42 | 7.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 41 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 37 | 6.8% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 34 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Wall surface: exterior | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 13 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 172 | 31.4% |
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 Galveston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 177 | 32.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 88 | 16.1% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 51 | 9.3% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 48 | 8.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 30 | 5.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 20 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 19 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 16 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 14 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 67 | 12.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Galveston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 90% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $4,500,000 | Water vehicle fire | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $720,110 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 3 | $613,040 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $315,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $220,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $150,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Galveston sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
39 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 4 | |
| 30-39 | 8 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 7 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 126,693 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 14,169 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 13,400 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 13,000 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,972 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,976 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,668 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,260 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2004 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,150 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 5,021 | 32.6 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 5,000 | 50.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 4,856 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,729 | 48.5 mi |
Top 10 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 Galveston. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Galveston.
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.