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 Lowell responded to 18 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
May peaks. Feb dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
98 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 13 | — | |
| 2022* | 11 | — | |
| 2023 | 27 | — | |
| 2024 | 29 | +7.4% | |
| 2025 | 18 | -37.9% |
* Well below Lowell'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 2 building fires Lowell departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 21 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 | 6 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 3 | 14.3% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Function area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Wall surface: exterior | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 1 | 4.8% |
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 Lowell mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 5 | 23.8% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 8 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 9 | Incendiary device | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 1 | 4.8% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 3 | 14.3% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Lowell sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 547,079 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 173,393 | 32.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 131,542 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48,000 | 42.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 31,449 | 43.2 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 19,775 | 42.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 18,086 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,600 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 14,560 | 45.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 11,555 | 29.3 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 10,400 | 38.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 10,114 | 12.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Smoking | 8,709 | 31.0 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Lowell. 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.