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.
CACOOR
In 2025, fire departments serving Selma responded to 32 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $10K 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 72% of all calls.
Jun peaks. Sep dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
172 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022. $384K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 39 | — | |
| 2022 | 48 | +23.1% | |
| 2023* | 12 | — | |
| 2024 | 41 | — | |
| 2025 | 32 | -22.0% |
* Well below Selma'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 Selma departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 42 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 | 12 | 28.6% | |
| 2 | Outside area, other | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 6 | Operator/passenger area of transportation equip. | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 7 | Wildland, woods | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 8 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Cooking area, kitchen | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 3 | 7.1% |
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 Selma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 23 | 54.8% | |
| 2 | Hot ember or ash | 5 | 11.9% | |
| 3 | Heat from other open flame or smoking materials | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Molten, hot material | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 5 | Lightning | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Heat source: other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Fireworks | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 4.8% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Selma departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $10,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $1,000 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $50 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Selma sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 1,625,372 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Natural | 499,945 | 22.5 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 191,125 | 17.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 157,270 | 32.1 mi | |
| 2014 | Natural | 115,279 | 37.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 87,701 | 14.0 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 65,834 | 49.5 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 52,839 | 15.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 45,403 | 34.8 mi | |
| 2008 | Natural | 44,452 | 48.4 mi | |
| 2018 | Natural | 38,134 | 22.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 33,011 | 39.1 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 32,846 | 32.1 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 | 97538 | 172 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Selma. 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.