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2025 County Report

Fires in Deaf Smith County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Deaf Smith County responded to 101 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

14,943 residents FIPS 48117 3 cities · 1 fire depts
Total incidents
101
636 across 5 years
Building fires
8
24 wildland
Property loss
$0
$0 structure · $0 contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 58% of all calls.

101
Total Incidents
Grass fire 22 21.8%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 12 11.9%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 9 8.9%
Building fires 8 7.9%
Authorized controlled burning 8 7.9%
All other categories 42 41.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Deaf Smith County?

Feb peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 1
Feb 15
Mar 7
Apr 9
May 4
Jun 13
Jul 11
Aug 13
Sep 13
Oct 6
Nov 9
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Deaf Smith County

636 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 113
2022 162
2023 147
2024 113
2025 101
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 8 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
83%
29
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
11%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
3%
1
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
1
06 How Deaf Smith County compares

Deaf Smith County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.76
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Deaf Smith County
6.76
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.54
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Deaf Smith County
0.54
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Deaf Smith County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Deaf Smith County

3 cities mapped to FIPS 48117.

CityPopulation 
Hereford 14,943 View ›
Joel 0 View ›
Dawn 0 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Deaf Smith County

1 departments report from this county.

Hereford FD
Hereford
FDID DN602 102 incidents 1 paid 23 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.