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 Niederwald responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. 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.
Feb peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
19 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $1K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 1 | — | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024* | 0 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | — |
* Well below Niederwald'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 0 building fires Niederwald departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 1 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 | Other | 1 | 100.0% |
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 Niederwald mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 1 | 100.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Niederwald departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Niederwald sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 73,600 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 34,068 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,030 | 24.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,582 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,491 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,455 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,175 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 34.6 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 78640 | 19 |
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Niederwald. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
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.