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 Lake Worth responded to 86 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K building blaze. 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 61% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
284 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $632K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022* | 22 | — | |
| 2023* | 27 | — | |
| 2024 | 98 | — | |
| 2025 | 86 | -12.2% |
* Well below Lake Worth'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 3 building fires Lake Worth departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 57 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 | 27 | 47.4% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 6 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 5 | 8.8% | |
| 4 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 7 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Corridor, mall | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 8.8% |
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 Lake Worth mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 47 | 82.5% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 2 | 3.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 7 | Pipe or cigar | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 1.8% | |
| 10 | Other static discharge | 1 | 1.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Lake Worth departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Fire in portable building, fixed location | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $5,000 | Outside storage fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $1,600 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $200 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $100 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $100 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lake Worth sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 76,209 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,444 | 48.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,201 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 6,000 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,500 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,600 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 45.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,190 | 36.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,153 | 9.6 mi | |
| 2005 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,000 | 19.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 13.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 8.7 mi |
Top 4 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 Lake Worth. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Lake Worth.
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.