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 Sour Lake responded to 42 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $50K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
200 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.9M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 36 | — | |
| 2022 | 39 | +8.3% | |
| 2023* | 19 | — | |
| 2024 | 64 | — | |
| 2025 | 42 | -34.4% |
* Well below Sour Lake'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 4 building fires Sour Lake departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 86 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 | 17 | 19.8% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 10 | 11.6% | |
| 3 | Other | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 9.3% | |
| 5 | Outside area, other | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 24.4% |
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 Sour Lake mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 31 | 36.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 10.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 5 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 4 | 4.7% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 9 | Match | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 3 | 3.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 13 | 15.1% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sour Lake departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $50,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $20,000 | Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $15,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $15,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $5,000 | Chimney or flue fire, confined to chimney or flue | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $500 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sour Lake sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
8 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 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 172,221 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 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 13,400 | 36.7 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 13,000 | 36.6 mi | |
| 1994 | Arson/incendiarism | 9,912 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1992 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,000 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 8,358 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,972 | 36.6 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 7,091 | 27.9 mi | |
| 1995 | Arson/incendiarism | 6,670 | 37.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 6,160 | 42.5 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 5,978 | 41.7 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,976 | 37.9 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 Sour Lake. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
4 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sour Lake.
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.