Ross Fire in North Texas Reaches 100% Containment After 90,000-Acre Run
The Ross Fire near Palo Pinto, Texas burned about 90,000 acres and destroyed at least 167 structures before crews fully contained it on Sept. 16.
TX
In 2025, fire departments across Texas responded to 173,593 fire and hazmat incidents — including the Smokehouse Creek wildfire that burned 1,054,154 acres in 2024.
Texas ranks #14 in cumulative acres burned in the NIFC perimeter atlas. Hover any state to compare; click to drill in.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Top five categories cover roughly 42% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Dec dips. (Latest year: 2025.)
5-year cumulative seasonality smooths out single-year noise. Jul peaks across the window; Dec dips.
893,605 incidents from 2021 through 2025 across all reporting departments.
| Year | Incidents | |
|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 161,342 | |
| 2022 | 188,541 | |
| 2023 | 188,748 | |
| 2024 | 181,381 | |
| 2025 | 173,593 |
For the 15,708 building fires departments responded to in 2025, here's how investigators classified them.
Combined NFIRS + FPA-FOD totals across the available reporting window. Click a cause to see how it plays out nationwide.
| # | Cause | Incidents | FOD vs NFIRS | Acres | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined / missing | 128,997 | 53,644 / 75,353 | 6,166,017 | |
| 2 | Debris & open burning | 70,767 | 70,767 / 0 | 875,036 | |
| 3 | Equipment & vehicle use | 47,666 | 20,549 / 27,117 | 1,193,153 | |
| 4 | Arson / incendiarism | 43,729 | 9,489 / 34,240 | 348,059 | |
| 5 | Natural (lightning) | 15,275 | 8,505 / 6,770 | 2,245,120 | |
| 6 | Power generation / utility | 7,173 | 7,173 / 0 | 754,688 | |
| 7 | Smoking | 4,360 | 4,360 / 0 | 184,110 | |
| 8 | Other causes | 3,144 | 119 / 3,025 | 12,295 | |
| 9 | Recreation & ceremony | 2,161 | 2,161 / 0 | 64,843 | |
| 10 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 1,701 | 1,701 / 0 | 22,553 | |
| 11 | Railroad operations | 1,300 | 1,300 / 0 | 35,731 | |
| 12 | Fireworks | 312 | 312 / 0 | 7,670 |
Topical groupings of NFIRS incident types — building, cooking, electrical, vehicle, and more. Each links to its national rollup.
| # | Topic | Incidents | Loss | Deaths | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Outdoor fires | 252,781 | $267.2M | 6 | |
| 2 | Gas leaks | 150,994 | $2.4M | 0 | |
| 3 | Electrical / wiring | 142,301 | $2.4M | 0 | |
| 4 | Building fires | 135,598 | $2.8B | 453 | |
| 5 | Wildland fires | 134,246 | $258.4M | 3 | |
| 6 | Rubbish / refuse | 84,474 | $16.5M | 3 | |
| 7 | Vehicle fires | 64,224 | $1.8B | 232 | |
| 8 | Cooking-related | 19,121 | $5.0M | 0 | |
| 9 | Arson | 14,744 | $102.7M | 4 |
Largest single-incident property losses statewide in 2025. These 10 fires alone account for 62% of Texas's total.
| # | Property loss | City | Type | Severity |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $999,999,999 | Houston | Passenger vehicle fire | Catastrophic |
| 2 | $100,000,000 | Dallas | Rail vehicle fire | Catastrophic |
| 3 | $100,000,000 | Dallas | Special outside fire, other | Catastrophic |
| 4 | $17,000,000 | Rockwall | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 5 | $10,000,000 | BOERNE | Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire | Catastrophic |
| 6 | $10,000,000 | ANTHONY | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 7 | $6,500,000 | Portland | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 8 | $5,000,000 | UBC | Fire, other | Catastrophic |
| 9 | $5,000,000 | Houston | Building fires | Catastrophic |
| 10 | $5,000,000 | Big Lake | Outside storage fire | Catastrophic |
Per-capita rates let us compare Texas apples-to-apples to the national average.
12 largest reporting cities by population.
Top 10 counties by reported NFIRS incidents in 2025.
| # | County | Incidents | Population |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Harris County | 21,167 | 3,041,111 |
| 2 | Dallas County | 19,606 | 2,890,508 |
| 3 | Travis County | 11,117 | 1,151,571 |
| 4 | Bexar County | 11,068 | 1,709,339 |
| 5 | Tarrant County | 9,453 | 2,028,793 |
| 6 | Collin County | 5,123 | 1,016,581 |
| 7 | Montgomery County | 3,829 | 247,010 |
| 8 | Hidalgo County | 3,755 | 724,644 |
| 9 | El Paso County | 3,670 | 805,912 |
| 10 | Denton County | 3,379 | 614,376 |
Top 10 counties by NFIRS incidents per 1,000 residents (population ≥ 50,000). Surfaces signal beyond the mega-counties.
| # | County | Inc / 1k | Incidents | Population | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Parker County | 30.28 | 1,759 | 58,086 | |
| 2 | Grayson County | 20.29 | 2,009 | 98,991 | |
| 3 | Johnson County | 17.05 | 1,965 | 115,220 | |
| 4 | Gregg County | 16.92 | 1,927 | 113,859 | |
| 5 | Montgomery County | 15.50 | 3,829 | 247,010 | |
| 6 | Kaufman County | 15.33 | 1,345 | 87,718 | |
| 7 | Guadalupe County | 14.64 | 1,092 | 74,573 | |
| 8 | Potter County | 14.50 | 2,946 | 203,242 | |
| 9 | Hays County | 11.51 | 1,754 | 152,356 | |
| 10 | Wichita County | 11.29 | 1,386 | 122,796 |
By incident count in 2025.
By acres burned. Sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History.
| # | Name | Year | Agency | Acres |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 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 |
687 perimeters and 1,750,573 acres recorded since 1900.
| Decade | Fires | Acres | Activity |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1960s | 4 | 520 | |
| 1970s | 17 | 264 | |
| 1980s | 47 | 14,550 | |
| 1990s | 61 | 50,378 | |
| 2000s | 44 | 29,697 | |
| 2010s | 337 | 514,336 | |
| 2020s | 177 | 1,140,828 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by decade, broken down by cause category. Each row sums to the decade's total; the bars show the share each cause contributed.
| Decade | Total fires | Share by cause |
|---|---|---|
| 1990s | 12,592 | |
| 2000s | 66,425 | |
| 2010s | 94,497 | |
| 2020s | 6,573 |
FPA-FOD ignitions by month, all years on record. Distinct from NFIRS — captures unreported wildlands across rural and remote terrain. 180,087 ignitions total.
4,311 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 5-year window. Age and gender are coarse-binned for privacy.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 140 | |
| 10-19 | 144 | |
| 20-29 | 679 | |
| 30-39 | 915 | |
| 40-49 | 635 | |
| 50-59 | 421 | |
| 60-69 | 294 | |
| 70-79 | 191 | |
| 80+ | 131 |
State totals reflect incidents reported by fire departments to NFIRS for 2025. The 5-year totals span 2021 through 2025. Wildfire perimeters and decade-by-decade counts are sourced from the NIFC InterAgency Fire Perimeter History service. NFIRS reporting is voluntary, so totals are a strong indicator rather than a complete census.