By Mia Maldonado/Oregon Capital Chronicle
Oregon lawmakers approved nearly $123 million to help cover the costs of this year’s wildfire season, sending money to two state agencies responsible for fighting wildfires.
The Oregon Legislature’s Joint Emergency Board agreed to allocate $108 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry and $15 million to the Department of the State Fire Marshal at a morning meeting Thursday. The 20-member board has the authority to allocate funding when the full Legislature isn’t in session.
As of late August, wildfires had scorched across 2.5 million acres and cost the state $236.2 million. Those costs are expected to reach $350 million by the end of the wildfire season — putting 2026 on track to surpass the state’s previous $318 million record when wildfires scorched 1.9 million acres in 2024.
The forestry department has been able to pay for nearly $79 million of those costs with federal recovery funding, grants and other contributions. With the emergency board’s approval Thursday, the agency will also borrow $150 million from the Oregon State Treasury through three loans over the next three months to maintain solvency through the end of the year.
The State Fire Marshal responded to 12 destructive wildfires this year that cost more than $50 million. The agency’s $15 million request will cover funding gaps needed to address those costs.
The federal government is expected to reimburse Oregon for some of these costs, though that money can take years to arrive.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency still owes Oregon about $92 million in fire management and public assistance grants from 2020. These are grants a state requests if they are facing a catastrophic emergency, and the federal government agrees to pay 75% of the costs.
Typically they take about two to three years to be fully released to the states. This is not an unusual amount of money owed, nor is it unusual that it’s taking so long to be reimbursed, according to Joy Krawczyk, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Forestry.
The slow pace of federal reimbursements frustrated lawmakers.
“Through the course of today’s allocations, we’re going to be taking general fund dollars away from our schools, from healthcare, from housing, from public safety, while we’re waiting for reimbursement from the federal government,” said Rep. David Gomberg, D-Otis.
Lawmakers on the emergency board thanked all the agencies who worked to put out the wildfires this summer.
“It was predicted to be tough,” said Rep. Mark Owens, R-Crane. “We exceeded tough by many levels in that period of time. Without the coordination, the dedication of the state agencies, and I’ll say our Bureau of Land Management, the U.S. Forest Service, Rangeland Fire Protection Associations, rural fire districts and the volunteers that are out there, there’d have been towns and houses taken out.”
Oregon Capital Chronicle senior reporter Alex Baumhardt contributed to this story.
This story originally appeared in Oregon Capital Chronicle: Oregon lawmakers approve more than $120 million to cover cost of 2026 wildfires