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 Kountze responded to 30 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 77% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
185 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $16K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 82 | — | |
| 2022 | 23 | -72.0% | |
| 2023 | 24 | +4.3% | |
| 2024 | 26 | +8.3% | |
| 2025 | 30 | +15.4% |
For the 6 building fires Kountze departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 50 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 | 10 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 10 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 14.0% |
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 Kountze mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 14 | 28.0% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 4 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 6 | Match | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 3 | 6.0% | |
| 8 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 9 | 18.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Kountze sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 107,740 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 | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,091 | 11.1 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,670 | 49.9 mi | |
| 1999 | Debris and open burning | 5,320 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 5,200 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,000 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 4,282 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,197 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 4,006 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,000 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 3,821 | 49.7 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 3,800 | 44.9 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 Kountze. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Kountze.
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.