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2025 County Report

Fires in Rockwall County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Rockwall County responded to 823 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $17.0M property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

95,723 residents FIPS 48397 8 cities · 5 fire depts
Total incidents
823
4,275 across 5 years
Building fires
98
64 wildland
Property loss
$28.6M
$26.0M structure · $2.6M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories make up about 59% of all calls.

823
Total Incidents
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 244 29.6%
Building fires 98 11.9%
Power line down 56 6.8%
Authorized controlled burning 47 5.7%
Arcing, shorted electrical equipment 37 4.5%
All other categories 341 41.4%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Rockwall County?

Aug peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 72
Feb 80
Mar 88
Apr 45
May 73
Jun 59
Jul 62
Aug 96
Sep 71
Oct 65
Nov 74
Dec 38
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Rockwall County

4,275 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 802
2022 1,078
2023 847
2024 725
2025 823
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 98 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
46%
82
Cause undetermined
24%
44
Intentional / arson
7%
12
Equipment / heat source failure
6%
10
Under investigation
13%
23
Act of nature (lightning)
4%
5
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $24.8M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Rockwall County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 95% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $17,000,000 Rockwall Building fires Catastrophic
2 $4,100,000 ROYSE CITY Outside equipment fire Major
3 $800,000 ROYSE CITY Building fires Major
4 $800,000 ROCKWALL Building fires Major
5 $750,000 Fate Outside equipment fire Major
6 $471,750 ROCKWALL Building fires Major
7 $300,000 ROYSE CITY Gasoline or other flammable liquid spill Major
8 $220,000 ROCKWALL Building fires Significant
9 $200,000 Royse City Building fires Significant
10 $150,000 ROCKWALL Building fires Significant
06 How Rockwall County compares

Rockwall County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

8.6
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Rockwall County
8.6
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
1.02
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Rockwall County
1.02
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Rockwall County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Rockwall County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 48397.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Rockwall County

5 departments report from this county.

Rockwall VFD
Rockwall
FDID TX504 330 incidents
Royse City FD
Royse City
FDID TX405 184 incidents
Fate FD
Fate
FDID TX301 129 incidents
McLendonChisholm VFD
McLendonChisholm
FDID TX303 87 incidents 14 vol
Heath FD
Heath
FDID TX402 78 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.