Senators Warn Federal Firefighting Budget Nearly Exhausted With Fire Season Not Over
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In 2025, fire departments serving Tillamook responded to 98 fire and hazmat incidents — from cooking fires to gas leaks to a single $75K building blaze. Here's the full picture.
Building fires lead by count. Building fires lead by dollars. Together the top five categories make up about 57% of all calls.
Aug peaks. Apr dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
268 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2025. $450K cumulative property loss.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 51 | — | |
| 2022 | 57 | +11.8% | |
| 2023* | 22 | — | |
| 2024 | 40 | — | |
| 2025 | 98 | +145.0% |
* Well below Tillamook'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 17 building fires Tillamook departments responded to in 2025, here's how they were classified once investigators were finished.
NFIRS Area of Origin (AREA_ORIG) for the 37 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 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 5 | 13.5% | |
| 2 | Structural area, other | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 3 | Outside area, other | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 4 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 5 | Wildland, woods | 4 | 10.8% | |
| 6 | Cooking area, kitchen | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 7 | Vehicle area, other | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 8 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 9 | Undetermined | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 10 | Other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 6 | 16.2% |
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 Tillamook mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 18 | 48.6% | |
| 2 | Arcing | 6 | 16.2% | |
| 3 | Heat source: other | 3 | 8.1% | |
| 4 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 5 | Radiated, conducted heat from operating equipment | 2 | 5.4% | |
| 6 | Heat from powered equipment, other | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 8 | Hot ember or ash | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 9 | Cigarette lighter | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 10 | Chemical reaction | 1 | 2.7% | |
| 11 | All other sources | 1 | 2.7% |
Largest single-incident property losses reported by Tillamook departments in 2025. These 4 fires alone account for 100% of the city's annual total.
| # | Property loss | Type | Severity | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | $75,000 | Building fires | Significant | Investigated |
| 2 | $2,300 | Passenger vehicle fire | Significant | Investigated |
| 3 | $2,000 | Cooking fire, confined to container | Significant | Investigated |
| 4 | $300 | Fires in structures other than in a building | Significant | Investigated |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Tillamook sits above the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 5,891 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 | 30.7 mi | |
| 2003 | Debris and open burning | 376 | 49.6 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 301 | 4.5 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 281 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 254 | 24.0 mi | |
| 2015 | Recreation and ceremony | 215 | 23.7 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 211 | 27.7 mi | |
| 2016 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 202 | 44.3 mi | |
| 2014 | Debris and open burning | 143 | 26.2 mi | |
| 2017 | Debris and open burning | 140 | 32.8 mi | |
| 2005 | Debris and open burning | 130 | 44.9 mi | |
| 2020 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 126 | 30.3 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 | 97141 | 268 |
Six Oregon cities with population within ±25% of Tillamook. 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.