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.
In 2025, fire departments serving Roseburg responded to 766 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 71% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
3,056 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $3.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 448 | — | |
| 2022 | 550 | +22.8% | |
| 2023 | 613 | +11.5% | |
| 2024 | 679 | +10.8% | |
| 2025 | 766 | +12.8% |
For the 49 building fires Roseburg departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 942 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 | 260 | 27.6% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 116 | 12.3% | |
| 3 | Undetermined | 74 | 7.9% | |
| 4 | Other | 60 | 6.4% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 58 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 57 | 6.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 48 | 5.1% | |
| 8 | Railroad right of way: on or near | 34 | 3.6% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 30 | 3.2% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 17 | 1.8% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 188 | 20.0% |
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 Roseburg mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 263 | 27.9% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 157 | 16.7% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 87 | 9.2% | |
| 4 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 58 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 48 | 5.1% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 44 | 4.7% | |
| 7 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 41 | 4.4% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 32 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 28 | 3.0% | |
| 10 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 28 | 3.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 156 | 16.6% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Roseburg departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 98% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $200,000 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $75,000 | Self-propelled motor home or recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $35,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $25,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $20,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $5,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Roseburg sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
5 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 | 1 | |
| 30-39 | 1 | |
| 40-49 | 1 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 0 | |
| 70-79 | 2 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 596,275 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 | 29.4 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 48,079 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 48,000 | 24.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 31,449 | 37.2 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 27,350 | 41.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 26,725 | 46.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Equipment and vehicle use | 26,452 | 25.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 19,775 | 41.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 19,188 | 44.7 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 17,697 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 17,600 | 33.9 mi | |
| 2013 | Natural | 17,524 | 27.9 mi |
Top 7 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 Roseburg. 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.