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 Burns responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 61% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
254 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $226K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 34 | — | |
| 2022 | 63 | +85.3% | |
| 2023 | 49 | -22.2% | |
| 2024 | 65 | +32.7% | |
| 2025 | 43 | -33.8% |
For the 4 building fires Burns departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 76 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 | Outside area, other | 16 | 21.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 14 | 18.4% | |
| 3 | Other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 5 | Function area, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Undetermined | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 18 | 23.7% |
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 Burns mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 23.7% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 11 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 8 | 10.5% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 7 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 7.9% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.3% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 3 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.6% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 11 | 14.5% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Burns sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 834,891 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | Natural | 280,141 | 45.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 87,141 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 55,420 | 19.3 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 52,891 | 27.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 52,531 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 48,849 | 36.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 32,312 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2007 | Natural | 31,624 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 29,660 | 28.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 27,337 | 31.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 13,087 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2016 | Natural | 12,761 | 45.9 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 | 97720 | 253 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Burns. 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.