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2025 County Report

Fires in Smith County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Smith County responded to 1,303 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $588K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as Very High.

134,257 residents FIPS 48423 30 cities · 14 fire depts
Total incidents
1,303
13,782 across 5 years
Building fires
87
109 wildland
Property loss
$6.4M
$4.1M structure · $2.3M contents
Casualties
0 / 1
0 civ deaths · 1 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 58% of all calls.

1,303
Total Incidents
Unauthorized burning 200 15.3%
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) 169 13.0%
Vehicle accident, general cleanup 164 12.6%
Power line down 141 10.8%
Building fires 87 6.7%
All other categories 542 41.6%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Smith County?

Mar peaks. Dec dips.

Jan 145
Feb 135
Mar 217
Apr 170
May 111
Jun 76
Jul 24
Aug 116
Sep 94
Oct 117
Nov 98
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Smith County

13,782 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2,606
2022 3,717
2023 3,750
2024 2,406
2025 1,303
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 87 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
41%
84
Cause undetermined
24%
50
Intentional / arson
3%
7
Equipment / heat source failure
14%
28
Under investigation
13%
26
Act of nature (lightning)
5%
6
05 The biggest fires

10 fires · $3.1M in losses

Largest single-incident property losses in Smith County during 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 77% of the county's total.

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $588,100 Bullard Building fires Major
2 $588,100 Bullard Building fires Major
3 $588,100 Bullard Building fires Major
4 $300,000 Lindale Building fires Major
5 $300,000 Tyler Building fires Major
6 $250,000 Troup Building fires Major
7 $200,000 TYLER Building fires Significant
8 $150,000 Tyler Building fires Significant
9 $100,000 Tyler Building fires Significant
10 $75,000 LINDALE Building fires Significant
06 How Smith County compares

Smith County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

9.71
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Smith County
9.71
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.65
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Smith County
0.65
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Smith County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Smith County

12 cities mapped to FIPS 48423.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Smith County

14 departments report from this county.

Tyler FD
Tyler
FDID VS710 973 incidents
Lindale VFD
Lindale
FDID VS507 248 incidents
Whitehouse FD City of
Whitehouse
FDID VS508 87 incidents
Arp VFD Smith County ESD2
Arp
FDID VS401 9 incidents
Bullard VFD
Bullard
FDID VS402 1 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.