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.
CACOOR
In 2025, fire departments serving Medford responded to 737 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $400K 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 52% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
4,070 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $8.6M cumulative property loss. 8 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 911 | — | |
| 2022 | 1,043 | +14.5% | |
| 2023 | 718 | -31.2% | |
| 2024 | 661 | -7.9% | |
| 2025 | 737 | +11.5% |
For the 94 building fires Medford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 862 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 | 195 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Other | 132 | 15.3% | |
| 3 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 82 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 79 | 9.2% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 50 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 34 | 3.9% | |
| 7 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 25 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 20 | 2.3% | |
| 9 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 19 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 16 | 1.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 210 | 24.4% |
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 Medford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 476 | 55.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 77 | 8.9% | |
| 3 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 46 | 5.3% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 35 | 4.1% | |
| 5 | Cigarette lighter | 31 | 3.6% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 28 | 3.2% | |
| 7 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 25 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 21 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 17 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Cigarette | 15 | 1.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 91 | 10.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Medford departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 68% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $400,000 | Building fires | Major | Investigated |
| 2 | $200,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $100,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $60,630 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Medford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
14 fire-related casualties recorded in NFIRS Module 11 across the 2021–2025 window. Age, gender, and severity are coarse-binned — no individual identification possible.
| Age | Count | |
|---|---|---|
| 0-9 | 0 | |
| 10-19 | 0 | |
| 20-29 | 3 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 1 | |
| 60-69 | 3 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 3 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 874,764 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 | 157,270 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 46.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 44.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Debris and open burning | 38,008 | 35.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 35,129 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 33,344 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 36.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 29.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 32,496 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 29,454 | 27.3 mi |
Top 6 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 Medford. 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.