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2025 County Report

Fires in Bastrop County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Bastrop County responded to 1,314 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $400K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

45,400 residents FIPS 48021 24 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
1,314
6,391 across 5 years
Building fires
89
217 wildland
Property loss
$3.4M
$2.4M structure · $941K contents
Casualties
1 / 0
1 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.

1,314
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 414 31.5%
Authorized controlled burning 211 16.1%
Grass fire 117 8.9%
Building fires 89 6.8%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 61 4.6%
All other categories 422 32.1%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bastrop County?

Mar peaks. Aug dips.

Jan 94
Feb 90
Mar 189
Apr 86
May 100
Jun 63
Jul 81
Aug 62
Sep 130
Oct 179
Nov 165
Dec 75
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bastrop County

6,391 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,164
2022 1,571
2023 1,045
2024 1,297
2025 1,314
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 89 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
57%
194
Cause undetermined
27%
94
Intentional / arson
5%
16
Equipment / heat source failure
2%
8
Under investigation
7%
23
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
7
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bastrop County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 67% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $400,000 Elgin Building fires Major
2 $238,284 PAIGE Building fires Significant
3 $233,766 BASTROP Building fires Significant
4 $200,000 Elgin Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Bastrop Building fires Significant
6 $100,000 BASTROP Building fires Significant
7 $100,000 BASTROP Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 Elgin Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
9 $80,000 Bastrop Building fires Significant
10 $78,664 BASTROP Building fires Significant
06 How Bastrop County compares

Bastrop County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

28.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bastrop County
28.94
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
1.96
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bastrop County
1.96
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
22
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bastrop County
22
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bastrop County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48021.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bastrop County

14 departments report from this county.

Bastrop County ESD1
Red Rock
FDID AR411 692 incidents
Bastrop County ESD2
Bastrop
FDID AR602 291 incidents
Smithville VFD
Smithville
FDID AR409 89 incidents
Heart of the Pines VFD
Bastrop
FDID AR407 43 incidents
Bluebonnet VFD
Cedar Creek
FDID AR303 0 incidents 17 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.