Oregon is paying its bills after a record-setting wildfire season.

The Oregon Department of Forestry had processed $88 million in payments to wildland fire vendors two weeks after the Oregon Legislature held a special session to address a cash flow problem.

The state House of Representatives and Senate met Dec. 12 to approve an additional $191.5 million to cover costs associated with the 2024 fire season.

This year’s large fire costs far exceeded the funds ODF could muster, resulting in significant delays in payments to companies that provide critical resources such as firefighting crews, aircraft and heavy equipment.

“It was a stressful time for our folks, as many had to take out credit lines to make their payrolls and pay their bills,” said Deborah Miley, executive director of the National Wildfire Suppression Association, in a Dec. 26 ODF news release.

Costs this wildfire season exceeded $350 million as a record 1.9 million acres burned — far exceeding the state’s 10-year average of 640,000 acres per year.

The 2024 wildfires ended up costing more than double Oregon’s next most expensive fire season.

Funding stagnant

Prior to the recent special session, ODF had paid $130 million in fire season costs. Some of that money came from the State Emergency Board — which allocated $40 million toward the state’s portion of large fire costs in September.

But the other $90 million was paid from the budgets of non-fire ODF programs.

Under the state’s current wildfire funding structure, ODF uses budgeted funds from its other lines of business to pay for fire season costs and then carries that debt while awaiting federal reimbursements.

“This approach worked when gross large fire costs were averaging $11 million a year. Over the past decade, that average jumped to around $79 million, but the funding provided for large fires hasn’t increased accordingly,” according to the news release.

Inadequate system

Cal Mukumoto, ODF director, said Oregon’s wildfire response and mitigation funding are inadequate to address the growing complexity and costs of blazes the state faces.

“The workgroup we have been heading up with the Department of the State Fire Marshal has been working hard for the past several months to identify alternative funding strategies to bring to the 2025 Legislature for consideration,” Mukumoto said.

Gov. Tina Kotek’s recommended budget for the 2025-27 biennium identifies the need for at least an additional $130 million through new revenue to modernize and fully fund the state’s wildfire readiness and mitigation programs on an ongoing basis.

That’s in addition to a recommendation for $150 million to be redirected from state reserves and instead be appropriated to agencies to pay for wildfire suppression costs as needed.

More Oregon fires coverage

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