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2025 County Report

Fires in Lavaca County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Lavaca County responded to 131 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $100K property loss.

11,533 residents FIPS 48285 22 cities · 4 fire depts
Total incidents
131
614 across 5 years
Building fires
11
62 wildland
Property loss
$932K
$752K structure · $180K 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 60% of all calls.

131
Total Incidents
Grass fire 37 28.2%
Building fires 11 8.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 11 8.4%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 10 7.6%
Special outside fire, other 9 6.9%
All other categories 53 40.5%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Lavaca County?

Feb peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 11
Feb 17
Mar 17
Apr 14
May 14
Jun 7
Jul 9
Aug 9
Sep 15
Oct 7
Nov 11
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Lavaca County

614 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 95
2022 194
2023 111
2024 83
2025 131
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 11 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
74%
37
Cause undetermined
4%
2
Intentional / arson
8%
4
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
2
Under investigation
0%
0
Act of nature (lightning)
10%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $615K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Lavaca County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 82% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $100,000 Hallettsville Fire, other Significant
2 $91,000 Shiner Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
3 $85,000 Yoakum Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
4 $84,000 Yoakum Building fires Significant
5 $65,000 Yoakum Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
6 $50,000 Yoakum Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $50,000 Yoakum Building fires Significant
8 $40,000 Yoakum Building fires Significant
9 $25,000 Hallettsville Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
10 $25,000 Yoakum Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
06 How Lavaca County compares

Lavaca County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

11.36
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Lavaca County
11.36
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.95
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Lavaca County
0.95
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Lavaca County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Lavaca County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48285.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Lavaca County

4 departments report from this county.

Shiner VFD
Shiner
FDID PN403 25 incidents
Sweet Home VFD
SWEET HOME
FDID PN104 15 incidents 12 vol
Moulton VFD
Moulton
FDID PN302 0 incidents
Hallettsville VFD
Hallettsville
FDID PN401 0 incidents 45 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.