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 Myrtle Creek responded to 109 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 73% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
446 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 24 | — | |
| 2022 | 73 | — | |
| 2023 | 88 | +20.5% | |
| 2024 | 152 | +72.7% | |
| 2025 | 109 | -28.3% |
* Well below Myrtle Creek'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 3 building fires Myrtle Creek departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 69 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 | Undetermined | 27 | 39.1% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 6 | 8.7% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Bedroom - < 5 persons; included are jail or prison | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Cooking area, kitchen | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 12 | 17.4% |
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 Myrtle Creek mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 45 | 65.2% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Heat source: other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 5 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Arcing | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 1.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Myrtle Creek sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 649,544 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 | 131,542 | 32.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 38.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 48,079 | 28.0 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48,000 | 28.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 31,449 | 38.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 27,350 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 26,725 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26,452 | 13.7 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 19,775 | 42.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 19,188 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,697 | 31.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,600 | 35.1 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 | 97457 | 446 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Myrtle Creek. 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.