Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Silverton responded to 82 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $3K 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 48% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Mar dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
630 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2021. $2.5M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 254 | — | |
| 2022 | 132 | -48.0% | |
| 2023* | 70 | — | |
| 2024 | 92 | — | |
| 2025 | 82 | -10.9% |
* Well below Silverton'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 4 building fires Silverton departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 70 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 12 | 17.1% | |
| 2 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 10 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 7 | 10.0% | |
| 4 | Undetermined | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Other | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 7 | Storage area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 8 | Exterior balcony, unenclosed porch | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 21 | 30.0% |
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 Silverton mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 24 | 34.3% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 8 | 11.4% | |
| 3 | Hot ember or ash | 8 | 11.4% | |
| 4 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 5 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 4 | 5.7% | |
| 7 | Chemical reaction | 3 | 4.3% | |
| 8 | Heat source: other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 9 | Cigarette | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 10 | Heat spread from another fire, other | 2 | 2.9% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 8 | 11.4% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Silverton departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $2,500 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Natural vegetation fire, other | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Silverton sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 373,824 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 | 31.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 138,054 | 35.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 11,513 | 49.7 mi | |
| 2001 | Natural | 7,500 | 38.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 5,508 | 32.2 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 2,810 | 36.8 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,584 | 17.7 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 2,171 | 45.8 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 2,033 | 34.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,508 | 30.6 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 1,070 | 38.7 mi | |
| 2006 | Natural | 790 | 29.2 mi |
Top 6 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 Silverton. 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.