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 Wimberley responded to 116 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2.5M building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 73% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
726 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $6.1M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 54 | — | |
| 2022 | 214 | — | |
| 2023 | 211 | -1.4% | |
| 2024 | 131 | -37.9% | |
| 2025 | 116 | -11.5% |
* Well below Wimberley'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 Wimberley departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 97 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 | 43 | 44.3% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 6 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Storage: supplies or tools; dead storage | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 6 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.1% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 9 | Entrance way, lobby | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 16 | 16.5% |
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 Wimberley mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 63.9% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 9 | 9.3% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 3.1% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 2 | 2.1% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 1 | 1.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 6.2% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Wimberley departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $60,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $40,000 | Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $8,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $25 | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Wimberley sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 35,834 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,500 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,030 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 40.8 mi | |
| 2007 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 47.3 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 22.7 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,500 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 1,200 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2001 | Debris and open burning | 1,175 | 5.9 mi | |
| 2008 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,035 | 23.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 22.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 1,000 | 23.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,000 | 49.4 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 | 78676 | 726 |
Six Texas cities with population within ±25% of Wimberley. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Wimberley.
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.