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 Uvalde responded to 53 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 49% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
174 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $20K cumulative property loss. 2 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 58 | — | |
| 2023* | 17 | — | |
| 2024 | 46 | — | |
| 2025 | 53 | +15.2% |
* Well below Uvalde'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 Uvalde departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 116 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 | Outside area, other | 33 | 28.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 18 | 15.5% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 17 | 14.7% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.4% | |
| 8 | Storage room, area, tank, or bin | 3 | 2.6% | |
| 9 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 13.8% |
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 Uvalde mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 73 | 62.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 23 | 19.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 8 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 1.7% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 9 | Heat from undetermined smoking material | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 1.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Uvalde sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 38,075 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 3,500 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 3,300 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,050 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,000 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 3,000 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Debris and open burning | 2,538 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 2,500 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Debris and open burning | 2,000 | 29.6 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,800 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 940 | 31.3 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 | 78801 | 174 |
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Uvalde. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Uvalde.
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.