Emergency Legislative Meeting to Discuss Relief Funds for the Brutal Oregon 2024 Wildfire Season
The brutal Oregon 2024 wildfire season which ravaged 1.9 million acres and cost $350 million will be tabled at an emergency session of lawmakers on December 12.
Governor Asks for $218 Million
Governor Tina Kotek has asked for $218 million to help cover the cost of the damages to land and property in a wildfire season that lasted five months.
There were 132 buildings and at least 42 homes destroyed in the wildfires. Utility infrastructure, transportation links, and natural resource economies were also severely damaged and disrupted.
The average annual Oregon wildfire season consumes 640,000 acres. This year’s record-breaking 1.9 million acres has placed unprecedented financial strain on state agencies to cover the costs.
See also: Oregon Governor Seeks FEMA Funding For 2024 Wildfire Season
However, the Oregon House Republican Minority Leader Christine Drazan (R-Canby) describes the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) as ‘insolvent and riddled with ongoing bureaucratic dysfunction,’ stripping its ability to pay its bills or staff. She was responding to a statement by the governor, calling for ‘…a spirit of cooperation’ to meet fiscal responsibilities.
Drazan, who takes over the Republican leadership of the House when Donald Trump is inaugurated as U.S. president in January, said in a statement that ‘Republicans welcome the opportunity to solve this problem.’ Releasing the funds will ensure ‘…that people who work to protect Oregon communities are paid for their service.’
Governor Kotek has asked the Legislature for $218 million to be released to the ODF and the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal to help cover the cost of the wildfire season.
Her appeal was backed by House Speaker Julie Fahey (D-West Eugene and Veneta), who said even wildfire experts had not foreseen the magnitude of wildfires experienced in the 2024 season.
In July, a State of Emergency was declared by the governor. Kotek also invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act on a record-breaking 17 occasions to mobilize firefighters and resources, coordinated by the ODF, to local communities.
Referring to the emergency Legislative session next month, Kotek expressed gratitude at the willingness of lawmakers to reach a consensus to hold an emergency session ‘to ensure the fire season costs are addressed and bills paid by the end of the calendar year.’
The decision by lawmakers to discuss releasing $218 million to Oregon state agencies follows the rejection by the Oregon State Treasury for a $60 million loan to the ODF. The loan would have gone towards the $133 million the ODF owes for firefighting costs.