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 Lakeside 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 68% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
184 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 14 | — | |
| 2022 | 45 | — | |
| 2023 | 30 | -33.3% | |
| 2024 | 36 | +20.0% | |
| 2025 | 59 | +63.9% |
* Well below Lakeside'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 5 building fires Lakeside departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 41 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 | 9 | 22.0% | |
| 2 | Wildland, woods | 7 | 17.1% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 14.6% |
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 Lakeside mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 11 | 26.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from direct flame, convection currents | 5 | 12.2% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 4 | 9.8% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 6 | Match | 3 | 7.3% | |
| 7 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 8 | Backfire from internal combustion engine | 2 | 4.9% | |
| 9 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Arcing | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 6 | 14.6% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lakeside sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 7,679 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,845 | 19.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Arson/incendiarism | 790 | 35.5 mi | |
| 1995 | Recreation and ceremony | 700 | 24.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Equipment and vehicle use | 650 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Recreation and ceremony | 518 | 38.3 mi | |
| 1999 | Arson/incendiarism | 380 | 27.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 347 | 31.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 331 | 47.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 307 | 34.4 mi | |
| 1999 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 243 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 187 | 49.8 mi | |
| 2004 | Debris and open burning | 159 | 49.6 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 | 97449 | 184 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Lakeside. 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.