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 Siletz responded to 13 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $9K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Outside rubbish, trash or waste fire lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 69% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
41 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $10K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 7 | — | |
| 2022 | 11 | +57.1% | |
| 2023* | 2 | — | |
| 2024 | 8 | — | |
| 2025 | 13 | +62.5% |
* Well below Siletz'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 0 building fires Siletz departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 2 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 | Other | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 1 | 50.0% |
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 Siletz mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 1 | 50.0% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 1 | 50.0% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Siletz departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $9,000 | Fire in motor home, camper, recreational vehicle | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $1,000 | Grass fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Siletz sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,904 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 | 2,552 | 20.2 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 376 | 20.3 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 307 | 48.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 281 | 21.3 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 215 | 39.6 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 8.9 mi | |
| 2016 | Arson/incendiarism | 191 | 41.5 mi | |
| 1998 | Equipment and vehicle use | 175 | 41.6 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 18.9 mi | |
| 2015 | Debris and open burning | 135 | 37.1 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 7.0 mi | |
| 2002 | Natural | 117 | 40.2 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 | 97380 | 41 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Siletz. 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.