Local risk profile
Why fire damage is a year-round risk in Houston
Houston's fire risk is driven less by wildland exposure than by the age and scale of its housing stock and by the city's disaster cycle. About 44% of Houston's 1.07 million housing units were built before 1980 (ACS 2024), which puts decades-old branch wiring, overloaded panels and aging appliances inside a large share of homes. The Houston Fire Department — one of the largest municipal fire departments in the United States — answered 7,836 fire incidents in 2024 among more than 416,000 total emergency calls. The disaster cycle adds its own ignition sources: portable generators and candles during repeated hurricane blackouts (Beryl in July 2024 left more than two million area customers without power), and space heaters during hard freezes like February 2021. Flooded homes carry a delayed electrical-fire risk, too — water-damaged wiring, outlets and appliances can short long after the water recedes, one reason the city requires permits and licensed electricians for storm repairs. After a fire, the damage rarely stops at the burn: smoke and soot residue spread through the HVAC system, and the water used in suppression starts its own clock, so professional cleanup usually needs to begin within days.
Source: houstontx.gov