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2025 County Report

Fires in Limestone County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Limestone County responded to 346 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $40K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

12,650 residents FIPS 48293 24 cities · 9 fire depts
Total incidents
346
2,127 across 5 years
Building fires
45
126 wildland
Property loss
$79K
$60K structure · $19K contents
Casualties
4 / 0
4 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 62% of all calls.

346
Total Incidents
Grass fire 74 21.4%
Building fires 45 13.0%
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire 37 10.7%
Power line down 36 10.4%
Aircraft standby 21 6.1%
All other categories 133 38.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Limestone County?

Oct peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 36
Feb 21
Mar 31
Apr 33
May 25
Jun 26
Jul 30
Aug 40
Sep 32
Oct 50
Nov 19
Dec 3
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Limestone County

2,127 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 438
2022 567
2023 380
2024 396
2025 346
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 45 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
65%
103
Cause undetermined
12%
19
Intentional / arson
11%
18
Equipment / heat source failure
4%
7
Under investigation
5%
8
Act of nature (lightning)
3%
3
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $60K in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Limestone County during 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $40,000 GROESBECK Cultivated vegetation, crop fire, other Significant
2 $10,000 Groesbeck Mobile property (vehicle) fire, other Significant
3 $7,000 Groesbeck Building fires Significant
4 $3,000 Groesbeck Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
5 $200 Groesbeck Building fires Significant
06 How Limestone County compares

Limestone County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

27.35
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Limestone County
27.35
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
3.56
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Limestone County
3.56
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
316.2
Civilian fire deaths per million
Limestone County
316.2
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Limestone County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48293.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Limestone County

9 departments report from this county.

Mexia FD
Mexia
FDID PT504 162 incidents
Groesbeck VFD
Groesbeck
FDID PT402 129 incidents
West Lake Limestone FD
Thornton
FDID PT405 40 incidents
Lake Mexia VFD
Mexia
FDID PT302 0 incidents
Thornton FD
Thornton
FDID PT305 0 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.