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2025 County Report

Fires in Anderson County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Anderson County responded to 349 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $60K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

21,410 residents FIPS 48001 20 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
349
2,700 across 5 years
Building fires
25
49 wildland
Property loss
$510K
$315K structure · $195K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Power line down lead by count. Top five categories make up about 52% of all calls.

349
Total Incidents
Power line down 51 14.6%
Unauthorized burning 46 13.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 32 9.2%
Grass fire 26 7.4%
Building fires 25 7.2%
All other categories 169 48.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Anderson County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 18
Feb 23
Mar 46
Apr 24
May 31
Jun 33
Jul 31
Aug 5
Sep 29
Oct 41
Nov 38
Dec 30
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Anderson County

2,700 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 849
2022 656
2023 643
2024 203
2025 349
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 25 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
25%
18
Cause undetermined
37%
26
Intentional / arson
6%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
9
Under investigation
15%
11
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $304K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Anderson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 97% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $60,000 Palestine Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $50,000 PALESTINE Building fires Significant
3 $50,000 ANDERSON COUNTY Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 Palestine Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $32,000 PALESTINE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
6 $22,000 ANDERSON COUNTY Building fires Significant
7 $20,000 PALESTINE Building fires Significant
8 $10,000 PALESTINE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
9 $5,000 PALESTINE Fire, other Significant
10 $5,000 PALESTINE Cooking fire, confined to container Significant
06 How Anderson County compares

Anderson County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

16.3
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Anderson County
16.3
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
1.17
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Anderson County
1.17
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Anderson County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Anderson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48001.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Anderson County

16 departments report from this county.

Palestine FD
Palestine
FDID AA604 245 incidents
Neches VFD
Neches
FDID AA404 54 incidents
Slocum VFD
Elkhart
FDID AA205 0 incidents
Tucker VFD
palestine
FDID AA207 0 incidents 25 vol
Elkhart FD
Elkhart
FDID AA301 0 incidents 21 vol
09 Historical wildfires

Largest fires recorded in TX

Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).

#NameYearAgencyAcres
1 Smokehouse Creek 2024 SF 1,054,154
2 Rock House 2011 NPS 314,377
3 Potter#1FP (Fain Plant) 2006 NPS 22,040
4 Cane 2017 NPS 14,240
5 WF HOLIDAY 1 & 2 2012 FWS 14,181
6 PAIS Front Country S. FY20 RX (ADD-ON) 2020 NPS 13,339
7 Laguna 24 2024 NPS 12,385
8 CUTOFF 2010 NPS 10,280
9 WF Unit 1 1/2 2015 FWS 7,657
10 Big Canyon 1990 NPS 7,432

About this data

County-level NFIRS aggregates for 2025, plus 5-year totals across 2021–2025. NFIRS is voluntary — about 23,000 of roughly 30,000 US fire departments report — so totals are a strong indicator, not a complete census. Wildfire risk score (0–100) and Expected Annual Loss come from FEMA's National Risk Index. Drought class is the most recent USDM classification (D0 = abnormally dry through D4 = exceptional drought). Historical fire perimeters are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.