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2025 County Report

Fires in Hill County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Hill County responded to 338 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $250K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

16,567 residents FIPS 48217 26 cities · 16 fire depts
Total incidents
338
1,520 across 5 years
Building fires
43
104 wildland
Property loss
$3.5M
$2.4M structure · $1.2M 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 55% of all calls.

338
Total Incidents
Grass fire 56 16.6%
Building fires 43 12.7%
Power line down 35 10.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 29 8.6%
Fire, other 21 6.2%
All other categories 154 45.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Hill County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 29
Feb 38
Mar 60
Apr 26
May 25
Jun 15
Jul 16
Aug 27
Sep 33
Oct 41
Nov 19
Dec 9
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Hill County

1,520 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 192
2022 289
2023 351
2024 350
2025 338
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 43 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
45%
33
Cause undetermined
19%
14
Intentional / arson
4%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
16%
12
Under investigation
14%
10
Act of nature (lightning)
2%
2
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Hill County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $250,000 ITASCA Building fires Major
2 $250,000 WHITNEY Building fires Major
3 $180,000 Hillsboro Camper or recreational vehicle (RV) fire Significant
4 $138,000 WHITNEY Building fires Significant
5 $130,500 WHITNEY Building fires Significant
6 $125,000 Whitney Building fires Significant
7 $100,700 WHITNEY Building fires Significant
8 $100,000 AQUILLA Grass fire Significant
9 $100,000 AQUILLA Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire Significant
10 $100,000 WHITNEY Fire, other Significant
06 How Hill County compares

Hill County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

20.4
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Hill County
20.4
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
2.6
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Hill County
2.6
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Hill County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Hill County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48217.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Hill County

16 departments report from this county.

Hillsboro FR
HIllsboro
FDID KP506 157 incidents
White Bluff VFD
Whitney
FDID KP403 56 incidents
Whitney FD
Whitney
FDID KP413 50 incidents 25 vol
Lakeview VFD
Whitney
FDID KP409 38 incidents
Aquilla VFD
Aquilla
FDID KP302 33 incidents 12 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.