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 Waelder responded to 18 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 72% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
84 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 4 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 16 | +45.5% | |
| 2024 | 35 | +118.8% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -48.6% |
* Well below Waelder'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 Waelder departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 5 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 | 3 | 60.0% | |
| 2 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 1 | 20.0% |
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 Waelder mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 100.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waelder sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 64,222 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 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,030 | 10.6 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,582 | 27.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 2,700 | 34.9 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 1,804 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,491 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,455 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,175 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 973 | 47.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 866 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 800 | 36.3 mi |
Top 2 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 Waelder. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Waelder.
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.