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 Riddle responded to 78 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $200K 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 86% of all calls.
May peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
345 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2023. $1.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 33 | — | |
| 2022 | 64 | — | |
| 2023 | 88 | +37.5% | |
| 2024 | 82 | -6.8% | |
| 2025 | 78 | -4.9% |
* Well below Riddle'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 17 building fires Riddle departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 93 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 | 21 | 22.6% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 13 | 14.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 4 | Cooking area, kitchen | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 5 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 4.3% | |
| 9 | Conveyor | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Machinery room or area; elevator machinery room | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 24 | 25.8% |
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 Riddle mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 35 | 37.6% | |
| 2 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 14 | 15.1% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 8 | 8.6% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 5 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 7.5% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 6 | 6.5% | |
| 7 | Hot ember or ash | 3 | 3.2% | |
| 8 | Fireworks | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 2 | 2.2% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 7 | 7.5% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Riddle departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Off-road vehicle or heavy equipment fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $40,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $2,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Riddle sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 727,182 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 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 47.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 32.7 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 48,079 | 33.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48,000 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 31,449 | 44.6 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 27,350 | 33.0 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 26,725 | 31.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26,452 | 16.1 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 19,775 | 48.8 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 19,188 | 41.1 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,697 | 34.3 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 | 97469 | 345 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Riddle. 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.