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 Sandy responded to 118 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $128K 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 62% of all calls.
Oct peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
519 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.1M cumulative property loss. 1 civilian deaths.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 169 | — | |
| 2022 | 105 | -37.9% | |
| 2023 | 63 | -40.0% | |
| 2024 | 64 | +1.6% | |
| 2025 | 118 | +84.4% |
For the 9 building fires Sandy departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 101 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 | 13 | 12.9% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 12 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Vehicle area, other | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 7 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 8 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 9 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 10 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 28 | 27.7% |
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 Sandy mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 38 | 37.6% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 16 | 15.8% | |
| 3 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 7 | 6.9% | |
| 4 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 6 | 5.9% | |
| 6 | Arcing | 5 | 5.0% | |
| 7 | Cigarette | 4 | 4.0% | |
| 8 | Flying brand, ember, spark | 3 | 3.0% | |
| 9 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 10 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 2 | 2.0% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 12 | 11.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sandy departments in 2025. These 8 fires alone account for 82% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $127,500 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $120,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 5 | $50,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 6 | $45,670 | Fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
| 7 | $31,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 8 | $30,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sandy 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 | 2 | |
| 20-29 | 0 | |
| 30-39 | 2 | |
| 40-49 | 0 | |
| 50-59 | 0 | |
| 60-69 | 1 | |
| 70-79 | 0 | |
| 80+ | 0 |
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 525,866 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 | 193,573 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 138,054 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Fireworks | 48,488 | 23.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,995 | 39.1 mi | |
| 1992 | Smoking | 24,400 | 24.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Natural | 17,442 | 36.9 mi | |
| 2004 | Misuse of fire by a minor | 13,539 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 12,681 | 44.2 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 6,304 | 28.4 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 6,103 | 41.2 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 14.7 mi |
Top 5 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 Sandy. 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.