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.
In 2025, fire departments serving Sunriver responded to 43 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $5K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Gas leak (natural gas or LPG) lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 72% of all calls.
Jul peaks. Dec dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
216 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2024. $1.6M cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 47 | — | |
| 2022 | 40 | -14.9% | |
| 2023 | 38 | -5.0% | |
| 2024 | 48 | +26.3% | |
| 2025 | 43 | -10.4% |
For the 2 building fires Sunriver departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 29 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 | Cooking area, kitchen | 4 | 13.8% | |
| 2 | Common room, den, family room, living room, lounge | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Courtyard, patio, porch, terrace | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Laundry area, wash house (laundry) | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Attic: vacant, crawl space above top story, cupola | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Entrance way, lobby | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 9 | Egress/exit, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 10 | Storage area, other | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 7 | 24.1% |
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 Sunriver mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 7 | 24.1% | |
| 2 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 3 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 4 | Arcing | 3 | 10.3% | |
| 5 | Heat source: other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 6 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 7 | Hot or smoldering object, other | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 9 | Chemical reaction | 2 | 6.9% | |
| 10 | Molten, hot material | 1 | 3.4% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 2 | 6.9% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Sunriver departments in 2025. These 2 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $5,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $500 | Forest, woods or wildland fire | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Sunriver sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 513,317 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 | 173,393 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2003 | Natural | 79,734 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 26,795 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 24,025 | 30.1 mi | |
| 2012 | Natural | 21,546 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2003 | Arson/incendiarism | 21,135 | 29.3 mi | |
| 2017 | Natural | 18,086 | 27.9 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 17,739 | 15.0 mi | |
| 2009 | Natural | 14,560 | 43.6 mi | |
| 2018 | Smoking | 11,555 | 42.2 mi | |
| 1996 | Natural | 10,400 | 30.4 mi | |
| 2011 | Natural | 10,000 | 38.6 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 | 97707 | 216 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Sunriver. 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.