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.
In 2025, fire departments serving Clatskanie responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $90K 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 50% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
228 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $763K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 58 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | +10.3% | |
| 2023 | 54 | -15.6% | |
| 2024* | 22 | — | |
| 2025 | 30 | — |
* Well below Clatskanie'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 3 building fires Clatskanie departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 60 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 | 13 | 21.7% | |
| 2 | Other | 9 | 15.0% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 13.3% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 7 | 11.7% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 6 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 10 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 10 | 16.7% |
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 Clatskanie mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 40.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 7 | 11.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 6 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 6.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 3.3% | |
| 9 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Clatskanie departments in 2025. These 5 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $90,000 | Road freight or transport vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $55,000 | Water vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $45,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $30,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $2,000 | Outside equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Clatskanie sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,228 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 39.7 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 40.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 166 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 40.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 30.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 119 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108 | 35.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 106 | 35.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Clatskanie. 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.