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 Waller responded to 137 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $243K 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 55% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Jun dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
647 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.5M cumulative property loss. 3 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 46 | — | |
| 2022 | 177 | — | |
| 2023 | 152 | -14.1% | |
| 2024 | 135 | -11.2% | |
| 2025 | 137 | +1.5% |
* Well below Waller'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 5 building fires Waller departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 250 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 | 68 | 27.2% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 52 | 20.8% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 38 | 15.2% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 20 | 8.0% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 6 | Other | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 9 | Wildland, woods | 5 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 4 | 1.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 34 | 13.6% |
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 Waller mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 145 | 58.0% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 12 | 4.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 10 | 4.0% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 9 | 3.6% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 8 | 3.2% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Heat, spark from friction | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Match | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 6 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 35 | 14.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Waller departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 96% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $242,900 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $48,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $25,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $16,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $16,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $15,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Waller sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
7 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 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 0 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 2 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 1 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 50,248 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Natural | 19,960 | 15.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,426 | 38.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,280 | 16.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,085 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Fireworks | 1,804 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Debris and open burning | 1,757 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,622 | 27.6 mi | |
| 1996 | Arson/incendiarism | 1,200 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,035 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,008 | 46.9 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 700 | 21.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Debris and open burning | 700 | 36.7 mi |
Top 10 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 Waller. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Waller.
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.