Oregon lawmakers approve $218 million in wildfire funds in speedy emergency session Thursday

By DIRK VANDERHART/Oregon Public Broadasting

SALEM — Oregon lawmakers unleashed a flood of emergency funding Thursday, as the state grapples with its most expensive, expansive wildfire season in modern times.

In a quick special session, the Legislature passed a single bill, allocating $218 million in taxpayer money to cover the costs of a fire year that saw more than 1.9 million acres burn.

The emergency spending will free up the Oregon Department of Forestry and Office of State Fire Marshal — the two state agencies that predominantly tackle wildfires — to pay contractors who sent machinery and manpower to battle this year’s blazes and support firefighting teams, but have sat unpaid for months.

As of late November, the forestry department said it was facing nearly $100 million in unpaid bills for the fire season, with more invoices on the way.

The special session was among the more unremarkable in recent memory. With broad agreement that the state must pay bills that have grown as the state experiences more severe fire years, both Democrats and Republicans were happy to approve the money. The lone bill up for consideration, Senate Bill 5801, sailed through a legislative committee and both chambers on nearly unanimous votes in just a few hours.

That didn’t mean everyone agreed on why the state finds itself in a financial bind.

Sen. Lynn Findley, R-Vale, accused the forestry department of failing to keep lawmakers informed about the extent of its mounting costs. In a committee hearing, he called on the agency’s head, State Forester Cal Mukumoto, to resign.

“We have vendors in the state of Oregon that we, the State of Oregon, hired months and months ago, and we have not paid that bill,” said Findley, who said he only became aware of the fiscal crunch in mid-November. “If the tables were turned and it was the other way around, the attorney general would be throwing somebody in jail.”

Rep. Ed Diehl, R-Scio, was among Republicans who blamed policies that protect state forests from logging, which he said contribute to more expensive fire seasons.

“Oregon leadership has shut down our forests, denying Oregonians our livelihoods and creating tinder boxes in the process,” Diehl said. “We have turned a billion-dollar asset into a billion-dollar liability.”

“What I think this underscores is that we are now in a period of transition,” said state Rep. Paul Evans, D-Monmouth. “The point is, right now moving forward we need to adjust how we project [costs].”

Indeed, the session shined a spotlight on the state’s inadequate system for funding wildfire prevention and suppression. It’s a system that policymakers have talked about updating for nearly a decade, without success.

That discussion now promises to be a top focus of the legislative session that convenes in January.

“Next year, we’re probably going to need some additional help for the fire season that’s coming up,” said state Sen. Bill Hansell, R-Athena, “If we don’t pay our bills now why would anyone want to come and help us and be part of what we need next year?”

Sen. Fred Girod, R-Silverton, who lost his home when a fire raced down the Santiam Canyon east of Salem in 2020, called on lawmakers to better prioritize preventing and fighting wildfires.

“I’ve experienced a lot of trauma in my life and I mean a lot. Nothing compares to that,” Girod said. “To wake up and everything that makes you you is gone… It really hurts that fire is such a low priority in this state that we cant even afford to pay the contractors that we hired.”

Oregon wildfire funding comes in two main flavors. There is “base” fire funding, split between the state and property owners whose land is under state protection. Oregon agencies tapped $74.5 million in base funding this year, but that money only goes toward spotting and putting out small fires.

When fires spread rapidly, or threaten lives and property, funding comes from a fund for “large” fires. The first $20 million from this bucket is split between the state and landowners. The rest is backfilled, eventually, from the state’s general fund.

And this year, large fire costs hit $352 million — $212 million more than the state’s next most expensive fire year in 2020. The vast majority of that cost was incurred by the forestry department, which received $191.5 million in Thursday’s lone legislation.

While the federal government will ultimately pay nearly 60% of the tab, state officials say that process can take years. In the meantime, they have been scrambling to find money and pay outstanding bills.

“We just don’t have enough cash on hand to pay the folks who came out this year and worked thousands of hours protecting their neighbors and community members,” Joy Krawczyk, a forestry department spokesperson, said earlier this month. “Even if we liquidated everything we could possibly get, we still probably couldn’t get to that number.”

The 2024 fire season began with optimism. Above-average snowpack and low levels of drought kept fires largely in check through June. Then a heatwave quickly dried out the Oregon landscape, and a series of lightning storms set hundreds of fires.

By July, Oregon had become the nation’s top firefighting priority. In total, the state saw more than 1,000 fires — including six “megafires” larger than 100,000 acres each.