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 Hitchcock responded to 77 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 66% of all calls.
May peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
219 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $950K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 11 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023* | 26 | — | |
| 2024 | 89 | — | |
| 2025 | 77 | -13.5% |
* Well below Hitchcock'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 8 building fires Hitchcock departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 87 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 | 60 | 69.0% | |
| 2 | Other | 7 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 5.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 4.6% | |
| 5 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 3.4% | |
| 6 | Interior stairway or ramp | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 9 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 10 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 3.4% |
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 Hitchcock mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 81 | 93.1% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 4 | Fireworks | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 5 | Match | 1 | 1.1% | |
| 6 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 1.1% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Hitchcock sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 65,538 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 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,260 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 5,021 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,028 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,016 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,888 | 48.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,741 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,982 | 42.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 2,682 | 45.2 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,550 | 17.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 2,254 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 2,250 | 41.3 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 Hitchcock. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Hitchcock.
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.