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2025 County Report

Fires in Liberty County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Liberty County responded to 687 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $600K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

31,599 residents FIPS 48291 30 cities · 20 fire depts
Total incidents
687
6,268 across 5 years
Building fires
76
113 wildland
Property loss
$2.6M
$2.0M structure · $604K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Unauthorized burning lead by count. Top five categories make up about 47% of all calls.

687
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 92 13.4%
Building fires 76 11.1%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 58 8.4%
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire 51 7.4%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 48 7.0%
All other categories 362 52.7%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Liberty County?

Oct peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 53
Feb 52
Mar 92
Apr 56
May 56
Jun 27
Jul 39
Aug 59
Sep 63
Oct 118
Nov 66
Dec 6
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Liberty County

6,268 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 1,128
2022 1,577
2023 2,220
2024 656
2025 687
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 76 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
31%
42
Cause undetermined
10%
13
Intentional / arson
29%
39
Equipment / heat source failure
12%
16
Under investigation
15%
20
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $1.5M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Liberty County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 75% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $600,000 CLEVELAND Road freight or transport vehicle fire Major
2 $238,300 Liberty Building fires Significant
3 $120,000 CLEVELAND Building fires Significant
4 $100,000 Hull Building fires Significant
5 $100,000 Liberty Building fires Significant
6 $90,000 CLEVELAND Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire Significant
7 $75,000 Liberty Building fires Significant
8 $60,000 Cleveland Building fires Significant
9 $60,000 CLEVELAND Passenger vehicle fire Significant
10 $55,000 Liberty Building fires Significant
06 How Liberty County compares

Liberty County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

21.74
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Liberty County
21.74
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
2.41
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Liberty County
2.41
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Liberty County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Liberty County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48291.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Liberty County

20 departments report from this county.

Cleveland FD
Cleveland
FDID PS502 389 incidents
Liberty FD
Liberty
FDID PS509 162 incidents 13 paid 20 vol
Plum Grove VFD
Cleveland
FDID PS312 6 incidents 20 vol
Ames VFD
—
FDID PS201 0 incidents
Devers VFD
devers
FDID PS204 0 incidents 14 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.