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 Houston responded to 14,539 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1000.0M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
74,515 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.5B cumulative property loss. 72 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13,128 | — | |
| 2022 | 12,780 | -2.7% | |
| 2023 | 15,519 | +21.4% | |
| 2024 | 18,549 | +19.5% | |
| 2025 | 14,539 | -21.6% |
For the 1,914 building fires Houston departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37,874 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 | 7,172 | 18.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6,881 | 18.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4,739 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2,575 | 6.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2,220 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2,048 | 5.4% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1,451 | 3.8% | |
| 8 | Other | 1,329 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 1,012 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 607 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7,840 | 20.7% |
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 Houston mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 15,518 | 41.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3,861 | 10.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2,868 | 7.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2,794 | 7.4% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 1,550 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1,375 | 3.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1,283 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1,223 | 3.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1,022 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 890 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5,490 | 14.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Houston departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 91% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $999,999,999 | Passenger vehicle fire | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 2 | $5,000,000 | Building fires | Catastrophic | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 6 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 7 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 8 | $2,000,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Houston sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
477 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 | 30 | |
| 10-19 | 14 | |
| 20-29 | 78 | |
| 30-39 | 103 | |
| 40-49 | 82 | |
| 50-59 | 57 | |
| 60-69 | 50 | |
| 70-79 | 16 | |
| 80+ | 20 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 61,900 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 19,960 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,426 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,280 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,000 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,028 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1997 | Natural | 2,550 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,757 | 20.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,622 | 18.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 37.8 mi | |
| 1998 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,300 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2016 | Debris and open burning | 1,210 | 44.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 33.7 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.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Houston.
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.