SALEM, Ore. — Oregon lawmakers are meeting Thursday for a special session to discuss emergency funding to pay out millions in unpaid bills stemming from the state’s 2024 crisis. record wildfire season.
Like forest fires still rage in CaliforniaOregon is among the states struggling with high costs associated with fighting wildfires this year. New Mexico lawmakers during a special session in July approved millions in emergency aid victims of wildfiresand states included North Dakota and Wyoming have applied for federal disaster declarations to help with recovery costs.
Fighting the fires that burned a record 769,000 acres, much of it in eastern Oregon, cost the state more than $350 million, according to Gov. Tina Kotek. The amount has made this the most expensive wildfire season in state history, her office said.
Although more than half of the costs will ultimately be covered by the federal government, the state will still have to pay the bills pending reimbursement.
“The unprecedented 2024 wildfire season required us all to work together to protect lives, land and property, and that spirit of cooperation must continue to meet our fiscal responsibilities,” Kotek said in a news release in late November announcing the announced special session. .
Wildfires in Oregon this year destroyed at least 42 homes and burned large swaths of pasture in the state’s rural east. At one point, the Durkee Fire, which scorched about 750 square miles near the Oregon-Idaho border, was the largest in the country.
Kotek declared a state of emergency in July in response to the threat of wildfires and invoked the state’s Emergency Conflagration Act 17 times during the season.
Before the special session, Kotek asked lawmakers to approve $218 million for the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal. The money would help the agencies continue operations and pay the contractors who helped fight the fires and provide resources.
The special session comes ahead of the start of the next legislative session in January, when lawmakers will be tasked with finding more permanent revenue streams to cover wildfire costs that have soared due to climate change and worsening drought in the U.S. West .
During the upcoming legislative session, Kotek wants lawmakers to increase wildfire preparedness and wildfire response funding by $130 million in the state’s two-year budget cycle. She has also requested that $150 million, a one-time deposit into the state’s rainy day fund, be transferred to firefighting organizations to help them pay for wildfire suppression efforts.
While Oregon’s 2024 wildfire season was a record in terms of costs and acreage burned, 2020’s remains historic because it was among the worst natural disasters in Oregon history. The 2020 Labor Day weekend fires killed nine people and destroyed more than 5,000 homes and other structures.