In 2025, fire departments serving Jim Wells County responded to 94 fire and hazmat incidents. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.
Grass fire lead by count. Top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Aug dips.
1,009 incidents from 2021 through 2025.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 352 | |
| 2022 | 315 | |
| 2023 | 125 | |
| 2024 | 123 | |
| 2025 | 94 |
For the 10 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.
12 cities mapped to FIPS 48249.
| City | Population | |
|---|---|---|
| Alice | 17,916 | View › |
| Premont | 2,810 | View › |
| Ben Bolt | 2,424 | View › |
| Rancho Alegre | 1,099 | View › |
| Orange Grove | 1,067 | View › |
| Alice Acres | 975 | View › |
| South La Paloma | 690 | View › |
| Coyote Acres | 678 | View › |
| K-Bar Ranch | 611 | View › |
| Amargosa | 364 | View › |
| Sandia | 333 | View › |
| Alfred | 298 | View › |
4 departments report from this county.
Top 10 fire perimeters by acres burned (state-scoped fallback while we build out per-county polygons).
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
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.