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 Foxfield responded to 58 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $300K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 62% of all calls.
Mar peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
252 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $54.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 1 | — | |
| 2022* | 16 | — | |
| 2023 | 85 | — | |
| 2024 | 92 | +8.2% | |
| 2025 | 58 | -37.0% |
* Well below Foxfield'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 4 building fires Foxfield departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 51 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 | Chute/container - trash, rubbish, waste | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 5 | Cargo/trunk area - all vehicles | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Undetermined | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 23.5% |
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 Foxfield mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 21.6% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 8 | 15.7% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 5 | 9.8% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 7.8% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 3 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 8 | Explosive, fireworks, other | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 3.9% | |
| 10 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 13.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Foxfield departments in 2025. These 7 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $300,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $11,265 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $10,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $500 | Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $200 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Foxfield sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 241,760 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 137,760 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 18,947 | 49.3 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 16,580 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1996 | Recreation and ceremony | 11,875 | 34.2 mi | |
| 2000 | Smoking | 10,800 | 34.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 6,382 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,200 | 17.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Debris and open burning | 4,142 | 25.3 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 4,085 | 31.9 mi | |
| 2003 | Power generation/transmission/distribution | 3,869 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2009 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,008 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Smoking | 2,312 | 41.0 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 | 80016 | 252 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Foxfield. 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.