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 Manzanita responded to 30 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $2K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Unauthorized burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 87% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
90 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $2K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | — | |
| 2022 | 18 | +50.0% | |
| 2023 | 26 | +44.4% | |
| 2024* | 4 | — | |
| 2025 | 30 | — |
* Well below Manzanita'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 Manzanita departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 10 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 | Other | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Function area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Conduit, pipe, utility, or ventilation shaft | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Outside area, other | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 8 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 1 | 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 Manzanita mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arcing | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 2 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 2 | 20.0% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 6 | Fireworks | 1 | 10.0% | |
| 7 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 10.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Manzanita departments in 2025. These 1 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,000 | Flammable gas or liquid condition, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Manzanita sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,337 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 | 2,552 | 48.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 14.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 281 | 48.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 5.4 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 215 | 41.0 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 7.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 39.2 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 119 | 39.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 117 | 47.3 mi | |
| 1998 | Debris and open burning | 102 | 42.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 100 | 43.3 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 Manzanita. 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.