SALEM, Ore. — Oregon Gov. Tina Kotek announced Tuesday that she will call state lawmakers in for a special session next month to address the high cost of this year's record-breaking wildfire season.
The session will begin Dec. 12 and focus on a request from Kotek for $218 million in additional funding for state agencies that were overtaxed by the cost of fighting the wildfires, according to a news release from Kotek's office. The fires collectively torched more than 1.9 million acres, far more than any prior year on record.
"The unprecedented 2024 wildfire season required all of us to work together to protect life, land, and property, and that spirit of cooperation must continue in order to meet our fiscal responsibilities," Kotek said in a statement. "I am grateful to legislative leaders for coming to consensus that our best course of action is to ensure the state's fire season costs are addressed and bills paid by the end of the calendar year."
Oregon's annual wildfire costs have ballooned as wildfire seasons have grown more intense, rising to around $75.5 million per year over the past decade from an average of around $11 million per year during the decade prior. The 2024 season blew even that new average out of the water with a record-high cost estimated at $250 million as of mid-September.
The final total has grown to more than $350 million, according to Kotek's office. The fires destroyed 42 homes and 132 other structures along with transportation and utility infrastructure damage, according to the news release. Kotek invoked the Emergency Conflagration Act a record 17 times to fast-track firefighting resources around the state.
More than half of the $350 million cost will "eventually" be covered by federal disaster relief funding, Kotek's office wrote in the news release, but "the state needs to pay its bills as expeditiously as possible."
The $218 million allocation, if approved by the legislature, would go to the Oregon Department of Forestry (ODF) and the Oregon State Fire Marshal's office, who would use it to pay back money owed to contractors for their work this year.
ODF announced back in September that it had exhausted its funding to pay firefighters and contractors and would need to ask for another $47.5 million from the state's Emergency Board, which is run by the Legislative Fiscal Office and handles emergency funding requests from state agencies when the legislature is not in session.
The board only had about $43 million in its general fund at the time, so the Legislative Fiscal Office recommended splitting the cost between the board's general fund and a separate natural disaster fund. The board approved the request, but the Legislative Fiscal Office warned that ODF was on track to run out of money again in November.
"Fighting wildfires of the magnitude we saw this season required a tremendous level of resources that even wildfire experts couldn’t foresee," Oregon House Speaker Julie Fahey said in a statement Tuesday. "Now, as we approach the end of the year and the holiday season, we need to make good on our commitments and pay our bills so that the contractors who fought fires in Oregon can be made whole. Convening now will enable us to do so, and to chart a bipartisan path forward to address our state’s most pressing needs."
Oregon's next regular legislative session starts Jan. 21 and will run through June 29, unless lawmakers opt to adjourn sooner.
