ODF cancels wildfire insurance
By Terry Murry on Monday, April 24th, 2023 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – The Oregon Department of Forestry is not renewing its firefighting insurance policy with Lloyds of London for the 2023-24 policy year. The state first purchased the policy prior to the 1973 wildfire season to mitigate the impact of wildfire suppression costs.
ODF stated in a news release that over the past decade the longer, more complex fire seasons have led to higher premiums and deductibles that basically lower the intended mitigating effects of the policy. The department said the Oregon State Forester made the change after much consideration.
The department said that the decision has no impact on its fire season readiness or firefighting capacity. “Oregonians can rest assured that dissolving this policy does not mean a lack of protection on the lands we’re responsible for,” Forester Cal Mukumoto said in a prepared release. “ODF stands ready, as we do heading into every fire season, to strategically use all resources at our disposal to protect Oregonians and their natural resources.”
Mukumoto’s decision follows a special meeting of the Emergency Fire Cost Committee earlier this month, during which the final terms of the policy were presented. That committee oversees the Oregon Forest Land Protection Fund which is privately funded by landowner assessments and a portion of harvest tax revenues.
Lloyds of London wanted to raise the deductible on Oregon’s policy to more than $78.5 million, which is a 57 percent increase than the last policy. Oregon’s historic net fire season costs factoring for inflation would not meet this threshold. The premium quoted for the policy was quoted at $4.1 million for $25 million in coverage.
The committee recommended not renewing the policy because it felt that the fund would be better used directly for suppression costs instead of continuing to pay on a policy that members felt may not be the best fit for Oregon any longer. The cancellation was viewed as the best move to ensure the solvency of Oregon’s primary firefighting fund.
