Home› Counties› TX› Harris County
2025 County Report

Fires in Harris County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Harris County responded to 21,167 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $1000.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

3,041,111 residents FIPS 48201 86 cities · 52 fire depts
Total incidents
21,167
110,279 across 5 years
Building fires
2,724
1,726 wildland
Property loss
$2.2B
$1.2B structure · $1.1B contents
Casualties
26 / 128
26 civ deaths · 70 civ inj · 58 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 49% of all calls.

21,167
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 3,132 14.8%
Building fires 2,724 12.9%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 1,801 8.5%
Passenger vehicle fire 1,690 8.0%
Outside rubbish fire, other 1,023 4.8%
All other categories 10,797 51.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Harris County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 1,980
Feb 1,453
Mar 2,431
Apr 1,892
May 2,076
Jun 1,481
Jul 2,071
Aug 1,854
Sep 1,759
Oct 2,164
Nov 1,938
Dec 68
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Harris County

110,279 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 19,042
2022 19,371
2023 23,467
2024 27,232
2025 21,167
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 2,724 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
4,338
Cause undetermined
13%
1,186
Intentional / arson
18%
1,703
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
1,114
Under investigation
10%
907
Act of nature (lightning)
1%
182
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.0B in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Harris County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 88% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $999,999,999 Houston Passenger vehicle fire Catastrophic
2 $5,000,000 Houston Building fires Catastrophic
3 $2,400,000 KATY Building fires Major
4 $2,000,000 HOUSTON Building fires Major
5 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
6 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
7 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
8 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
9 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
10 $2,000,000 Houston Building fires Major
06 How Harris County compares

Harris County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

6.96
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Harris County
6.96
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.9
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Harris County
0.9
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
8.5
Civilian fire deaths per million
Harris County
8.5
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Harris County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48201.

CityPopulation 
Houston 2,296,253 View ›
Pasadena 150,620 View ›
Atascocita 89,121 View ›
Baytown 84,449 View ›
Spring 63,930 View ›
Channelview 43,204 View ›
La Porte 35,782 View ›
Deer Park 34,046 View ›
Cloverleaf 24,735 View ›
Katy 22,826 View ›
Bellaire 17,163 View ›
Humble 16,563 View ›
08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Harris County

52 departments report from this county.

Houston FD
Houston
FDID KA926 10,094 incidents
CyFair FD
Houston
FDID KA514 1,419 incidents
Harris Co ESD7Spring VFD
Spring
FDID KA554 835 incidents
Baytown FD
Baytown
FDID KA705 663 incidents
Harris County ESD12
Houston
FDID KA512 605 incidents 31 paid 10 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.