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 Sanford responded to 38 fire and hazmat incidents . Here's the full picture.
Authorized controlled burning lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 79% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Oct dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
87 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021* | 0 | — | |
| 2022 | 15 | — | |
| 2023 | 14 | -6.7% | |
| 2024 | 20 | +42.9% | |
| 2025 | 38 | +90.0% |
* Well below Sanford'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 Sanford departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 16 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 | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 2 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 25.0% | |
| 3 | Other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 4 | Storage area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 5 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Wall assembly | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Vehicle area, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Vacant structural area | 1 | 6.2% |
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 Sanford mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 3 | 18.8% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 3 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 5 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 12.5% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 8 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 9 | Flame/torch used for lighting | 1 | 6.2% | |
| 10 | Lightning | 1 | 6.2% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sanford sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 176,608 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Arson/incendiarism | 107,995 | 37.3 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 13,820 | 37.9 mi | |
| 2002 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 9,294 | 49.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Debris and open burning | 7,525 | 45.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,495 | 47.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 7,020 | 46.8 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 6,249 | 43.7 mi | |
| 2010 | Debris and open burning | 5,100 | 45.4 mi | |
| 2000 | Debris and open burning | 3,124 | 33.3 mi | |
| 2019 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,183 | 6.5 mi | |
| 2000 | Natural | 1,010 | 34.5 mi | |
| 2013 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 918 | 5.5 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 | 81151 | 87 |
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Sanford. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
1 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Sanford.
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.