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 Llano responded to 103 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 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
330 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $200K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022* | 37 | — | |
| 2023 | 63 | — | |
| 2024 | 76 | +20.6% | |
| 2025 | 103 | +35.5% |
* Well below Llano'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 10 building fires Llano departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | 13 | 25.5% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 19.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 13.7% | |
| 5 | Ceiling & floor assembly, crawl space b/t stories | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Structural area, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Function area, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 5.9% |
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 Llano mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 21 | 41.2% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 15 | 29.4% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 4 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 6 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 8 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Multiple heat sources including multiple ignitions | 1 | 2.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Llano sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 89,479 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1993 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,892 | 29.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 10,468 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 9,813 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 43.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,213 | 25.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 5,205 | 32.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Debris and open burning | 4,500 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,409 | 27.0 mi | |
| 2007 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,800 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,400 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 2,106 | 40.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 2,079 | 26.5 mi |
Top 3 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 Llano. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Llano.
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.