Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
Five senators told Interior and USDA the $6 billion FY2026 fire suppression budget was nearly spent by Sept. 2, citing staffing gaps and firefighter deaths.
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In 2025, fire departments serving Bay City responded to 15 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $1K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 93% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
65 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $82K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 21 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | -47.6% | |
| 2023 | 13 | +18.2% | |
| 2024* | 5 | — | |
| 2025 | 15 | — |
* Well below Bay City's usual volume. That almost always means one or more departments didn't submit a full year to NFIRS, not that fires dropped, so no year-over-year change is shown for it.
For the 0 building fires Bay City departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 18 building fires investigators classified across 2021–2025. The room or location where ignition occurred — kitchens, bedrooms, exterior, vehicle areas — tells you where to focus prevention.
| # | Area of origin | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 16.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Service facilities, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 8 | Light shaft | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 9 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 10 | Wall assembly | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 4 | 22.2% |
NFIRS Heat Source (HEAT_SOURC) — the physical thing that started it. Spark or ember from operating equipment, an open flame, smoking materials, or hot embers from a fireplace are the leading culprits nationwide. Here's the Bay City mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 10 | 55.6% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 2 | 11.1% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 6 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 1 | 5.6% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 5.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Bay City departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bay City sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,553 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,552 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 1.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 281 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 19.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 215 | 28.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 29.8 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 48.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 117 | 35.4 mi |
Top 1 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
| # | ZIP | 5-yr incidents | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 97107 | 65 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Bay City. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
A 30-minute weekend can cut your home's exposure substantially. These four checklists are a good starting point.
Numbers reflect incidents reported by participating fire departments to the National Fire Incident Reporting System (NFIRS) Public Data Release for calendar year 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. Per-capita comparisons use 2023 ACS population estimates. Wildland fire data complements NFIRS with NIFC and USFS perimeters. Active-fire counts come from a dated NIFC snapshot, not a live feed.