Texas wildfire risk

Texas's recorded fire history

Federal perimeter records list 480 mapped wildfires in Texas since 2000. The largest on that record is the Rock House Fire of 2011, which burned 314,377 acres.

Recorded history feeds directly into your address score: our model counts mapped burns within 25 miles of a parcel, weighted toward large ones. It is worth knowing the limitation, though — a long record of successful suppression can leave an area reading quiet while fuel accumulates, which is precisely the condition that produces the next large fire.

Where hazard concentrates in Texas

Wildfire hazard is not spread evenly across a state. These are the 5 counties in Texas with the highest wildfire risk scores in FEMA's National Risk Index, with the building value each has sitting in exposed areas.

Parker County carries the highest score in the state at 96.2. If your address is there, or in any of the counties above, the statewide average understates your situation considerably — which is the reason to check the parcel rather than the state.

How Texas ranks nationally

FEMA's National Risk Index scores every US county for expected annual wildfire loss. Across Texas's 254 assessed counties the average wildfire hazard score is 72.7, which places the state 14th of the 50 states. The most exposed county in Texas scores 96.2.

Against a 50-state average of 52.7, Texas sits 20.0 points above it. Rank 14 of 50. The National Risk Index blends how often wildfire is expected with how much is standing in the way, so a state can post a moderate score with severe local hazard wherever development has pushed into the wildland-urban interface.

Roughly $596.9B of building value sits inside Texas's wildfire-exposed areas. That figure is what drives carrier behaviour: insurers manage concentration of exposure, so a state can have modest average hazard and still see availability problems wherever that value clusters in the wildland-urban interface.

Texas wildfire season

Texas has a different pattern from the western states: fire activity concentrates in the drier winter and spring months rather than high summer, and a large share of recorded burns are prescribed fire rather than wildfire.

Insurance in Texas

Texas operates a FAIR Plan or equivalent residual market, which matters because average county hazard here is high enough that admitted carriers do decline individual parcels. Residual market policies are typically restricted in what they cover, so check whether you need a separate policy alongside it for liability and theft.

Residual-market availability and the rules governing it change. Confirm the current position with the Texas Department of Insurance before you rely on it.

Whatever the market looks like in your area, the sequence is the same: document mitigation before your renewal date, work with an independent broker who can access surplus lines, and ask directly whether the carrier credits wildfire mitigation. The full fire insurance guide covers non-renewal, FAIR Plans and difference-in-conditions wraps in detail.

Lowering your risk in Texas

The two changes with the best return anywhere in the country are clearing the first five feet around the structure to non-combustible material, and screening vents against ember entry. Both are cheap, both address the mechanism that destroys most homes, and both are visible to an underwriter if you photograph and invoice them. What qualifies and how to document it.