In a special legislative session held on Thursday, the Oregon Legislature approved a $218 million funding allocation to assist the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office in paying vendors who supported firefighting efforts during the state’s record-breaking wildfire season. The bill was passed overwhelmingly, with the Senate approving it 25-2 and the House following shortly after with a 42-2 vote, though 15 lawmakers were excused.
The allocation comes after a summer of intense wildfires that burned 1.9 million acres of land, more than any other fire season on record for the state. The fires, which devastated large areas of rangeland and forest, destroyed 42 homes and 132 other structures. Governor Tina Kotek had called the special session in late November to address the ongoing financial strain facing state agencies involved in firefighting operations.
Despite the urgency, some lawmakers, including Senator Lynn Findley (R-Vale), voiced frustration over the delayed response to the budget deficit. Findley pointed out that the ODF’s finance section tracks fire costs daily during large wildfires, yet the state found itself six months later without sufficient funds to pay its contractors. “Every large fire has a finance section. They know exactly the cost every day,” Findley said. “Yet, we are here six months later trying to pay the bill.”
The funding approved during the special session will help clear outstanding payments to nearly 800 private contractors and local fire districts who assisted in battling the fires. As of the beginning of January, the ODF had already paid out $127.4 million but still owed over $98 million to vendors. The additional $218 million will ensure the agency can make these payments and remain financially solvent through the end of the budget cycle in June 2025.
While the Senate session was brief, discussions in the House were more extensive. Representative Vikki Breese Iverson (R-Prineville) called for more proactive forest management to prevent future catastrophic fires. “Our state is burning because we have forests full of fire fuel,” Iverson said. “As long as we allow the forest to be full of fuel, they will burn, and it will be expensive.”
On the other hand, Representative Dacia Grayber, a firefighter from Southwest Portland and East Beaverton, pointed out that two-thirds of the land burned in 2024 was rangeland, not forested areas. Grayber, who has 25 years of firefighting experience, expressed concern over the long-term impact of increasingly hotter and drier years on the state’s rangeland. “We’re going to be faced with these fires again,” she said.
Oregon State Fire Marshal Mariana Ruiz-Temple echoed these concerns, noting that the 2024 wildfire season exceeded all previous records in terms of acreage burned. “We had heat waves and dry lightning, and it really created a perfect storm in terms of where those wildfires landed,” she said. “It’s about four years of wildfire seasons in one year.”
The wildfires of 2024 left a significant mark on Oregon, especially in the eastern regions, and the state is still grappling with the financial fallout. With the Emergency Conflagration Act invoked a record 17 times, the state’s firefighting efforts came at a much higher cost than anticipated. ODF’s Director of Fire Operations, Kyle Williams, confirmed that by July, it had become clear the agency would run out of funds before the end of the season.
As the state looks ahead, lawmakers have emphasized the importance of better managing forest resources and addressing the underlying causes of increasingly frequent and intense wildfires. However, for now, the approval of the $218 million will help Oregon’s firefighting agencies meet their financial obligations and recover from the devastating impact of the 2024 wildfire season.