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 Dayton responded to 62 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $275K 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 73% of all calls.
Dec peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
292 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $894K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 57 | — | |
| 2022 | 51 | -10.5% | |
| 2023 | 59 | +15.7% | |
| 2024 | 63 | +6.8% | |
| 2025 | 62 | -1.6% |
For the 7 building fires Dayton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 79 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 33 | 41.8% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 11 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 12.7% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 7 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 8 | 10.1% |
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 Dayton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 16 | 20.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 10 | 12.7% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 9 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Sunlight | 8 | 10.1% | |
| 5 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 5 | 6.3% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 7 | Radiated heat from another fire | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Conducted heat from another fire | 4 | 5.1% | |
| 9 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 3.8% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.5% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 14 | 17.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Dayton departments in 2025. These 6 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $275,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $175,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $6,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $4,000 | Cultivated grain or crop fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Dayton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 25,051 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 | 31.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,552 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 35.1 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 790 | 46.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 532 | 25.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 497 | 33.1 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 376 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 330 | 38.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 303 | 37.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 42.9 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 | 97114 | 292 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Dayton. 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.