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 Wichita Falls responded to 1,086 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $150K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Power line down lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,173 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $4.8M cumulative property loss. 9 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 865 | — | |
| 2022* | 77 | — | |
| 2023* | 48 | — | |
| 2024 | 1,097 | — | |
| 2025 | 1,086 | -1.0% |
* Well below Wichita Falls'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 97 building fires Wichita Falls departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 823 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 115 | 14.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 103 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 101 | 12.3% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 90 | 10.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 53 | 6.4% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 36 | 4.4% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 35 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 23 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 20 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 19 | 2.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 228 | 27.7% |
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 Wichita Falls mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 367 | 44.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 111 | 13.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 77 | 9.4% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 33 | 4.0% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 32 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 27 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 27 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 25 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 14 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 94 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wichita Falls departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 29% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $150,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $35,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wichita Falls sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 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 | 6 | |
| 40-49 | 2 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 1 | |
| 80+ | 2 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 209,782 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 41,000 | 34.1 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 21,525 | 15.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 18,000 | 18.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 13,702 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 13,548 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 11,785 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,000 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2009 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 8,000 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Recreation and ceremony | 7,328 | 45.3 mi | |
| 2011 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 6,100 | 13.0 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,915 | 33.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,913 | 22.9 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 Wichita Falls. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
5 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wichita Falls.
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.