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 Yuma responded to 17 fire and hazmat incidents . 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 94% of all calls.
Apr peaks. Jan dips. Watch for the typical fall climb starting in October.
127 incidents 2021–2025. Peak year was 2022.
| Year | Incidents | YoY | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 35 | — | |
| 2022 | 44 | +25.7% | |
| 2023 | 20 | -54.5% | |
| 2024* | 11 | — | |
| 2025 | 17 | — |
* Well below Yuma'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 Yuma 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 | Open area - outside; included are farmland, field | 17 | 40.5% | |
| 2 | Undetermined | 6 | 14.3% | |
| 3 | Vehicle area, other | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 4 | Engine area, running gear, wheel area | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 5 | Highway, parking lot, street: on or near | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 6 | Outside area, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 7 | Other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Storage area, other | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 9 | Vehicle storage area; garage, carport | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 10 | Heating room or area, water heater area | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 11 | All other areas | 2 | 4.8% |
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 Yuma mix.
| # | Heat source | Count | Share | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Undetermined | 27 | 64.3% | |
| 2 | Heat source: other | 4 | 9.5% | |
| 3 | Arcing | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 4 | Lightning | 3 | 7.1% | |
| 5 | Chemical, natural heat source, other | 2 | 4.8% | |
| 6 | Spark, ember or flame from operating equipment | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 7 | Heat, spark from friction | 1 | 2.4% | |
| 8 | Munitions | 1 | 2.4% |
Per-capita rates let us compare apples to apples. Yuma sits below the national average for incidents per resident.
Top 25 wildfires (1992+) in the FPA-FOD ignitions database, scaled by acres. 85,745 acres burned in this 50-mile radius. Each dot is a fire — bigger dots burned more land.
| Year | Cause | Acres | Distance | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 30,000 | 48.7 mi | |
| 2012 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 24,000 | 15.6 mi | |
| 1997 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 6,000 | 41.9 mi | |
| 2018 | Equipment and vehicle use | 4,300 | 39.0 mi | |
| 2006 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 3,200 | 40.1 mi | |
| 2019 | Equipment and vehicle use | 2,570 | 43.5 mi | |
| 2014 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 2,500 | 27.2 mi | |
| 2018 | Missing data/not specified/undetermined | 1,783 | 29.9 mi | |
| 2010 | Natural | 1,200 | 14.2 mi | |
| 2020 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,150 | 49.4 mi | |
| 2004 | Natural | 1,000 | 42.9 mi | |
| 2017 | Equipment and vehicle use | 1,000 | 12.3 mi |
Top 2 ZIP codes by NFIRS incident count across 2021–2025. Each ZIP has its own fire profile — dive in for neighborhood-level context.
Six Colorado cities with population within ±25% of Yuma. Useful comparison targets — same state, similar size, different fire profile.
2 departments report to NFIRS for incidents in Yuma.
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.