ODF is paying wildfire bills
By Terry Murry on Monday, December 30th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – The Oregon Department of Forestry is working to get outstanding payments to wildland fire vendors as quickly as possible. A special session of the Oregon Legislature approved $191.5 million for the costly wildfire season. ODF says since that was allocated it has processed about $88 million. Prior to the session ODF had paid out $130 million in fire season costs.
“Without these vendors, we could not have provided Oregonians with the wildfire protection we did this year,” State Forester Cal Mukumoto said. “It was critically important to take care of those who served right alongside us all summer.”
The payments before the session came from the State Emergency Board and with money from non-fire ODF programs. The Oregon Department of Forestry said that the cashflow issue is a symptom of a larger program, which is how wildfire response and mitigation are funded by the state. Mukumoto said the way they are funded is inadequate to address the growing complexity and cost of the wildfires Oregon faces today.
