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 Fort Morgan responded to 169 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Grass fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 60% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
706 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 180 | — | |
| 2022 | 118 | -34.4% | |
| 2023 | 106 | -10.2% | |
| 2024 | 133 | +25.5% | |
| 2025 | 169 | +27.1% |
For the 15 building fires Fort Morgan departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 230 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 | 60 | 26.1% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 58 | 25.2% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 38 | 16.5% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 21 | 9.1% | |
| 5 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 9 | 3.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 2.2% | |
| 8 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 9 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 23 | 10.0% |
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 Fort Morgan mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 137 | 59.6% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 32 | 13.9% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 16 | 7.0% | |
| 4 | Heat, spark from friction | 12 | 5.2% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 7 | 3.0% | |
| 6 | Lightning | 6 | 2.6% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 4 | 1.7% | |
| 9 | Arcing | 3 | 1.3% | |
| 10 | Heat source: other | 2 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 3.0% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Fort Morgan sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 92,669 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 45,000 | 37.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,699 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,300 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 4,200 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 3,713 | 21.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 37.7 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 26.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,000 | 43.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,800 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 1,500 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,200 | 43.8 mi | |
| 2019 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 1,028 | 32.7 mi |
Top 4 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Fort Morgan. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Fort Morgan.
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.