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2025 County Report

Fires in Cooke County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Cooke County responded to 360 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $300K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

24,669 residents FIPS 48097 22 cities · 13 fire depts
Total incidents
360
2,690 across 5 years
Building fires
27
57 wildland
Property loss
$1.6M
$963K structure · $663K contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 54% of all calls.

360
Total Incidents
Power line down 59 16.4%
Grass fire 45 12.5%
Unauthorized burning 33 9.2%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 32 8.9%
Building fires 27 7.5%
All other categories 164 45.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Cooke County?

May peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 31
Feb 28
Mar 39
Apr 32
May 60
Jun 34
Jul 43
Aug 43
Sep 35
Oct 12
Nov 3
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Cooke County

2,690 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 528
2022 733
2023 581
2024 488
2025 360
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 27 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
53%
62
Cause undetermined
20%
23
Intentional / arson
7%
8
Equipment / heat source failure
13%
15
Under investigation
4%
5
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $911K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Cooke County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $300,000 Gainesville Building fires Major
2 $250,000 Gainesville Building fires Major
3 $150,000 Gainesville Building fires Significant
4 $50,000 VALLEY VIEW Building fires Significant
5 $50,000 Gainesville Building fires Significant
6 $32,000 Gainesville Building fires Significant
7 $28,800 Gainesville Building fires Significant
8 $20,000 Gainesville Outside storage fire Significant
9 $20,000 GAINESVILLE Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $10,000 VALLEY VIEW Outside equipment fire Significant
06 How Cooke County compares

Cooke County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

14.59
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Cooke County
14.59
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
1.09
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Cooke County
1.09
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Cooke County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Cooke County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48097.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Cooke County

13 departments report from this county.

Gainesville FD
Gainesville
FDID CW603 250 incidents 40 paid 8 vol
Valley View FD
Valley View
FDID CW207 57 incidents 13 vol
Callisburg FD
Callisburg
FDID CW201 37 incidents
Indian Creek VFD
Lake Kiowa
FDID CW407 18 incidents
Muenster VFD
Muenster
FDID CW406 6 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.