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 Harbor responded to 59 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 81% of all calls.
Jan peaks. Nov dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
294 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $10K cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 13 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 80 | +77.8% | |
| 2024 | 97 | +21.2% | |
| 2025 | 59 | -39.2% |
* Well below Harbor'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 Harbor departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 107 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 | Outside area, other | 40 | 37.4% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 30 | 28.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 5 | 4.7% | |
| 4 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 8 | Service facilities, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Exterior stairway, ramp, or fire escape | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 13.1% |
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 Harbor mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 62 | 57.9% | |
| 2 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 18 | 16.8% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 4 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 3.7% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 3 | 2.8% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 1.9% | |
| 10 | Match | 1 | 0.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 4 | 3.7% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Harbor sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,459,689 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 499,945 | 17.4 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 191,125 | 23.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 65,834 | 47.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 47.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 36.4 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 28,953 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 26,725 | 47.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 17,540 | 39.5 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 | 97415 | 294 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Harbor. 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.