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 Elgin responded to 41 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Aircraft standby lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 68% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 21 | +75.0% | |
| 2023* | 10 | — | |
| 2024* | 6 | — | |
| 2025 | 41 | — |
* Well below Elgin'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 Elgin 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 | Other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 4 | 17.4% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 5 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Bathroom, checkroom, lavatory, locker room | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Equipment or service area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Substructure area or space, crawl space | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 13.0% |
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 Elgin mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 30.4% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 5 | 21.7% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 13.0% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 8.7% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 1 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 1 | 4.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Elgin sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 385,474 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 109,259 | 40.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 80,212 | 35.7 mi | |
| 2005 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 52,000 | 47.7 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 50,633 | 46.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Natural | 12,716 | 45.7 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 11,081 | 47.0 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 10,137 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,212 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,992 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 5,700 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Natural | 5,555 | 35.9 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,810 | 43.8 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 | 97827 | 90 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Elgin. 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.