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 Bayfield responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Bayfield's departments reported 13 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 35 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 85% of all calls.
Apr peaks. May dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
174 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $550K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 6 | — | |
| 2022 | 72 | — | |
| 2023 | 47 | -34.7% | |
| 2024 | 36 | -23.4% | |
| 2025* | 13 | — |
* Well below Bayfield'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 2 building fires Bayfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 23 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 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 2 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Duct: hvac, cable, exhaust, heating, or AC | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 5 | 21.7% |
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 Bayfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Radiated heat from another fire | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Bayfield sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 351,290 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 73,121 | 17.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 58,570 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 54,129 | 19.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 49,628 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 24,931 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 23,220 | 44.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 15,356 | 34.4 mi | |
| 2012 | Arson/incendiarism | 10,133 | 39.0 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 7,271 | 21.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 4,781 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,593 | 34.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 2,905 | 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 | 81122 | 174 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Bayfield. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Bayfield.
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.