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2025 County Report

Fires in Ward County, TX

In 2025, fire departments serving Ward County responded to 10 fire and hazmat incidents — including a single $150K property loss. FEMA NRI rates wildfire risk here as High.

10,629 residents FIPS 48475 8 cities · 3 fire depts
Total incidents
10
21 across 5 years
Building fires
3
1 wildland
Property loss
$363K
$285K structure · $78K contents
Casualties
0 / 0
0 civ deaths · 0 civ inj · 0 FF inj
01 The mix

What kinds of fires happen here?

Building fires lead by count. Top five categories make up about 90% of all calls.

10
Total Incidents
Building fires 3 30.0%
Passenger vehicle fire 2 20.0%
Road freight or transport vehicle fire 2 20.0%
Outside rubbish fire, other 1 10.0%
Dumpster or other outside trash receptacle fire 1 10.0%
All other categories 1 10.0%
02 Seasonality

When do fires happen in Ward County?

Apr peaks. Jan dips.

Jan 0
Feb 0
Mar 0
Apr 2
May 1
Jun 0
Jul 2
Aug 2
Sep 1
Oct 2
Nov 0
Dec 0
03 Five-year trend

Year over year in Ward County

21 incidents from 2021 through 2025.

YearIncidents 
2021 2
2022 5
2023 3
2024 1
2025 10
04 Cause of ignition

What sparks building fires?

For the 3 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.

Unintentional
22%
2
Cause undetermined
0%
0
Intentional / arson
33%
3
Equipment / heat source failure
22%
2
Under investigation
11%
1
Act of nature (lightning)
12%
1
05 The biggest fires

5 fires · $285K in losses

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

#Property lossCityTypeSeverity
1 $150,000 Monahans Road freight or transport vehicle fire Significant
2 $45,000 Monahans Passenger vehicle fire Significant
3 $40,000 Monahans Building fires Significant
4 $35,000 Monahans Passenger vehicle fire Significant
5 $15,000 Monahans Building fires Significant
06 How Ward County compares

Ward County vs TX vs the nation

Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples.

0.94
Incidents per 1,000 residents
Ward County
0.94
TX avg
7.69
US avg
7.15
0.28
Building fires per 1,000 residents
Ward County
0.28
TX avg
0.7
US avg
0.82
0
Civilian fire deaths per million
Ward County
0
TX avg
5.4
US avg
5.8
07 Cities in this county

Largest cities in Ward County

8 cities mapped to FIPS 48475.

08 First responders

Busiest fire departments in Ward County

3 departments report from this county.

Monahans VFD
Monahans
FDID XD503 8 incidents
Barstow VFD
Barstow
FDID XD301 0 incidents
Wickett VFD
Wickett
FDID XD305 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.