OR legislature approves wildfire spending in special session
By Terry Murry on Monday, December 16th, 2024 in Columbia Basin News More Top Stories
SALEM – In a special session of the Oregon Legislature, lawmakers passed Senate Bill 5801 which allocates $218 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal for costs associated with the 2024 wildfire season. ODF gets $191.5 million while the OSFM receives $26.6 million.
Gov. Tina Kotek called for the special session, not wanting to wait until the 2025 session convened. A record of 1.9 million acres burned this season. The state’s 10-year average is 640,000 acres a year.
More than half the costs will eventually be reimbursed by the federal government, Kotek did not want the money to pay firefighters, local fire services, and vendors who responded to the blazes. Kotek was pleased with the legislators for calling the session.
“This summer’s wildfire season called for sacrifice, courage, and cooperation from everyone involved,” Kotek said in a prepared statement. “It was an all-hands-on-deck effort to protect life, land, and property.”
Kotek is calling for the legislators to find a way to ensure costs from the 2025 wildfire season. Her proposed budget calls for at least $130 million through new revenue to modernize and fully fund the state’s wildfire readiness and mitigation programs o an ongoing basis in addition to redirect $150 million from state reserves and giving it to the agencies to pay for wildfire costs as needed.
