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 Giddings responded to 107 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 55% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
140 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $257K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023* | 4 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 107 | — |
* Well below Giddings'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 6 building fires Giddings departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 70 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 | 15 | 21.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 13 | 18.6% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 9 | 12.9% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 7 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Other | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 14.3% |
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 Giddings mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 32 | 45.7% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 14 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Arcing | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 1.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Giddings sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 62,912 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 34,068 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,030 | 37.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,582 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,085 | 39.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,700 | 13.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 1,804 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,491 | 18.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,455 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Natural | 800 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 719 | 31.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 34.7 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 Giddings. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Giddings.
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.