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 Mission responded to 10 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 90% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
25 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 5 | — | |
| 2023 | 6 | +20.0% | |
| 2024 | 4 | -33.3% | |
| 2025 | 10 | +150.0% |
* Well below Mission'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 1 building fires Mission departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 17 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 23.5% | |
| 2 | Other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Outside area, other | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Wildland, woods | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 7 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 1 | 5.9% |
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 Mission mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Heat source: other | 6 | 35.3% | |
| 2 | Heat, spark from friction | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 3 | Fireworks | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 4 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 5 | Undetermined | 2 | 11.8% | |
| 6 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 5.9% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 5.9% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Mission sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 329,218 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2006 | Natural | 109,259 | 44.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 50,633 | 40.6 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 21,620 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,756 | 29.0 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 12,377 | 27.1 mi | |
| 1994 | Natural | 11,081 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,929 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 9,230 | 43.1 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,988 | 27.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,480 | 49.9 mi | |
| 2011 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 8,212 | 10.5 mi | |
| 2006 | Equipment and vehicle use | 8,000 | 26.7 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 | 97801 | 25 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Mission. 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.