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2025 County Report

Fires in Bowie County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Bowie County responded to 479 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $377K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

58,835 residents FIPS 48037 29 cities · 12 fire depts
Total incidents
479
2,527 across 5 years
Building fires
57
36 wildland
Property loss
$2.2M
$1.7M structure · $495K contents
Casualties
0 / 4
0 civ deaths · 4 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 63% of all calls.

479
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 103 21.5%
Power line down 59 12.3%
Building fires 57 11.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 47 9.8%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 36 7.5%
All other categories 177 37.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Bowie County?

Mar peaks. Nov dips.

Jan 55
Feb 41
Mar 59
Apr 40
May 31
Jun 40
Jul 55
Aug 43
Sep 32
Oct 42
Nov 2
Dec 39
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Bowie County

2,527 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 301
2022 731
2023 462
2024 554
2025 479
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 57 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
59%
62
Cause undetermined
17%
18
Intentional / arson
3%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
5%
5
Under investigation
9%
9
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.3M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Bowie County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 75% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $377,384 City of Texarkana Building fires Major
2 $206,447 City of Texarkana Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
3 $200,000 City of Texarkana Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $150,000 City of Texarkana Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $100,000 Texarkana Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
6 $70,000 Texarkana Building fires Significant
7 $60,000 Texarkana Building fires Significant
8 $50,000 Texarkana Building fires Significant
9 $50,000 City of Texarkana Building fires Significant
10 $35,000 Texarkana Building fires Significant
06 How Bowie County compares

Bowie County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.14
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Bowie County
8.14
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.97
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Bowie County
0.97
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Bowie County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Bowie County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48037.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Bowie County

12 departments report from this county.

Texarkana FD
Texarkana
FDID BA610 468 incidents 76 paid
Hooks VFD
Hooks
FDID BA403 7 incidents 24 vol
C5 VFD
Nash
FDID BA203 0 incidents
De Kalb VFD
De Kalb
FDID BA402 0 incidents 26 vol
Maud VFD
Maud
FDID BA404 0 incidents
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.