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2025 County Report

Fires in Jefferson County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Jefferson County responded to 1,869 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $550K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

230,343 residents FIPS 48245 21 cities · 15 fire depts
Total incidents
1,869
12,692 across 5 years
Building fires
193
128 wildland
Property loss
$10.5M
$8.5M structure · $2.0M contents
Casualties
3 / 17
3 civ deaths · 9 civ inj · 8 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Vehicle accident, general cleanup lead by count. Top five categories make up about 53% of all calls.

1,869
Total Incidents
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 287 15.4%
Building fires 193 10.3%
Power line down 192 10.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 182 9.7%
Passenger vehicle fire 140 7.5%
All other categories 875 46.8%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Jefferson County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 178
Feb 161
Mar 209
Apr 163
May 173
Jun 169
Jul 150
Aug 132
Sep 161
Oct 191
Nov 146
Dec 36
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Jefferson County

12,692 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,815
2022 2,790
2023 2,511
2024 2,707
2025 1,869
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 193 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
39%
227
Cause undetermined
17%
97
Intentional / arson
10%
56
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
69
Under investigation
15%
88
Act of nature (lightning)
7%
13
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $2.6M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Jefferson County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 31% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $550,000 Beaumont Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Major
2 $280,000 Beaumont Building fires Major
3 $280,000 Beaumont Passenger vehicle fire Major
4 $280,000 Beaumont Passenger vehicle fire Major
5 $250,000 BEAUMONT Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
6 $200,000 BEAUMONT Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
7 $200,000 Nederland Building fires Significant
8 $200,000 Beaumont Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
9 $200,000 BEAUMONT Building fires Significant
10 $200,000 Port Arthur Building fires Significant
06 How Jefferson County compares

Jefferson County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.11
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
8.11
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.84
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Jefferson County
0.84
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
13
Civilian fire deaths per million
Jefferson County
13
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Jefferson County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48245.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Jefferson County

15 departments report from this county.

Beaumont FD
Beaumont
FDID NH701 1,114 incidents
Port Arthur FD
Port Arthur
FDID NH715 427 incidents
Groves VFD
Groves
FDID NH608 146 incidents
Jefferson Co ESD4
Beaumont
FDID NH302 77 incidents 1 paid 40 vol
Jefferson Co Water Dist10
Nederland
FDID NH517 47 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.