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 Rainier responded to 23 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Incomplete 2025 data. Rainier's departments reported 23 incidents to NFIRS for 2025, against about 59 in a typical year, so 2025 figures on this page undercount. The 2021–2025 totals are the better guide.
Brush, or brush and grass mixture fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 65% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
293 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 89 | — | |
| 2022 | 113 | +27.0% | |
| 2023 | 55 | -51.3% | |
| 2024* | 13 | — | |
| 2025* | 23 | — |
* Well below Rainier'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 Rainier 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 | 11 | 15.9% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 9 | 13.0% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 4 | Wildland, woods | 8 | 11.6% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 6 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 7 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Outside area, other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 10 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 14 | 20.3% |
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 Rainier mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 50.7% | |
| 2 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 10 | 14.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 5 | 7.2% | |
| 4 | Hot ember or ash | 4 | 5.8% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 6 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Heat source: other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 10 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 1.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 5 | 7.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Rainier sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 10,095 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 40.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 175 | 36.4 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 166 | 31.3 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 145 | 46.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Equipment and vehicle use | 130 | 44.8 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 127 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 44.1 mi | |
| 2010 | Recreation and ceremony | 110 | 40.2 mi | |
| 2015 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 110 | 18.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 108 | 22.2 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 106 | 22.6 mi |
Top 3 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 Rainier. 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.