Oregon lawmakers are meeting in Salem today to put out a budget fire.
Following a larger-than-ever fire season, two Oregon agencies are facing larger-than-ever bills. But the Oregon Department of Forestry and State Fire Marshal are short on cash.
The state鈥檚 complex and convoluted system of paying for wildfire suppression and prevention has been unable to keep pace with fire seasons that have grown larger and more expensive. This year鈥檚 total fire costs top $350 million, and while more than half of that amount will ultimately be reimbursed by the federal government, that process can take years.
In the meantime, contractors who sent employees to fight Oregon fires this year have been waiting for months to be paid for their work 鈥� and they鈥檙e not happy.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 go four months without money,鈥� said Jim Angell, who runs a John Day excavating company that built fire lines for the state earlier this year; in late November, he said he was still owed nearly $100,000. 鈥淲e鈥檙e pushing right at 120 days on getting paid for a couple of these things.鈥�
The fix lawmakers will make in what looks to be a one-day special session is relatively straightforward. They are expected to send an additional $218 million to the two agencies, which will then hustle the money out the door.
Meanwhile, the burning question of how Oregon should tweak its wildfire funding system to offer more stability in big fire years will have to wait. It鈥檚 expected to be a hot topic in Salem during next year鈥檚 legislative session 鈥� though few obvious answers have emerged.
鈥淲ildfire is an area we need to figure out, clearly,鈥� state Sen. Kate Lieber, D-Portland, one of the Legislature鈥檚 top budget writers, said. 鈥淲e know that wildfire is going to continue to be where it is or probably more. We shouldn鈥檛 delude ourselves that we鈥檙e going back to a $30 million fire season.鈥�
Oregon鈥檚 2024 fire season began mildly, as lower drought and above-normal snowpack persisted through early summer. But a series of heatwaves soon dried out shrubs and grasses that initially thrived in the wetter-than-usual spring. Then thunderstorms rolled through, sparking natural fires alongside many human-caused ones.
That all set the stage for Oregon鈥檚 most destructive fire season in modern times, in terms of acres burned.
By late July, the state had become the nation鈥檚 top firefighting priority as flames raced through dry forests and rangelands, mostly in Eastern Oregon. By August, over 13,000 firefighters were working Oregon fires at once. And by the end of the fire season, more than 1,000 wildfires 鈥� including six 鈥渕egafires鈥� larger than 100,000 acres 鈥� had burned across 1.9 million acres.
The cost of it all: $350 million, an amount state agencies were in no shape to pay.
A 鈥榮paghetti bowl鈥� approach
As wildfire seasons have grown longer and more destructive, Oregon鈥檚 system for funding wildfire response has proven increasingly inadequate.
That system comes with an overarching premise: Landowners and the state should share the cost of fighting wildfires that do not discriminate between private and public land. But in Oregon, the funding structure has morphed and grown over the years to the point where it鈥檚 hard for even experts to parse.
A 2021 report commissioned by the state called the system 鈥渁rguably the most complex wildfire funding structure in the country.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檝e tried to figure out different ways to depict it, to simplify 鈥榟ere鈥檚 how much comes in and from where,鈥欌�� said Joy Krawczyk, a spokesperson for the Oregon Department of Forestry, which tackles much of the state鈥檚 wildfire response. Eventually the agency arrived at a chart known, tellingly, as 鈥渢he spaghetti bowl.鈥�
鈥淚t鈥檚 just a bunch of bubbles with lines all connecting each other,鈥� Krawczyk said, 鈥渁nd it鈥檚 horrific.鈥�
The state separates wildfire funding into two buckets. There is 鈥渂ase鈥� funding, split between the state鈥檚 general fund and landowners in protected areas, who are assessed with a per-acre annual fee based on what kind of land they have and where it sits.
This base funding accounted for about $74 million this year, and allows the forestry department to maintain a system that tamps down most fires while they鈥檙e small.
The second bucket is funding for 鈥渓arge鈥� fires that spread rapidly or pose imminent threats to lives or buildings. The first $20 million spent combating these blazes each year is shared between the state and landowners.
When the cost goes beyond that 鈥� as it often does these days 鈥� the general fund covers the balance. But lawmakers also use that pot of money to pay for schools, health care, and other pressing state priorities that compete with the forestry department at budget time.
鈥淲e just don鈥檛 have enough cash on hand to pay the folks who came out this year and worked thousands of hours protecting their neighbors and community members,鈥� Krawczyk said. 鈥淓ven if we liquidated everything we could possibly get, we still probably couldn鈥檛 get to that number.鈥�
Among those waiting to be paid is Lee Miller. Miller is the owner of Miller Timber Services, a Philomath-based contractor that helps with virtually any service the state might need. When fire breaks out, Miller supplies fire crews, engines and water trucks to battle the blaze, along with heavy machinery that build fire lines to stop its spread.
鈥淲e try to cover the gamut,鈥� he said.
The company has worked on wildfires for decades, and Miller says the state routinely pays its bills within 45 days. But this year, some of Miller鈥檚 invoices have sat unpaid for double that. Meanwhile, credit he鈥檚 taken out to pay his roughly 250 employees for their work on the fires is coming due.
鈥淭hey owe us a substantial chunk of money,鈥� Miller said. 鈥淎 lot of creditors, their sense of humor is running out very quickly on this.鈥�
Both Miller and Angell, the wildfire contractor in John Day, say they are sympathetic that the state has a funding conundrum 鈥� but they鈥檙e also tired of waiting for Oregon to sort out its finances.
鈥淭hey should have thought about that before they hired everybody to put out their fires,鈥� Angell said.
鈥淭hey were tasked with a mission but not funded for that mission,鈥� Miller said of the forestry department. 鈥淚 believe it鈥檚 an oversight on the Legislature鈥檚 part, and on the governor鈥檚.鈥�
A looming fight over funding
It鈥檚 not that policy makers have ignored the wildfire funding puzzle.
Lawmakers put forward multiple bills earlier this year in hopes of bracing for the upcoming wildfire season. Two would have asked voters if they wanted to increase property taxes to help fund wildfire protection, or on trees logged by private timber owners.
But the bills died, prompting predictions that have proven accurate.
鈥漈he whole issue of funding for the fire reality that we have nowadays is still unresolved and it leaves the Oregon Department of Forestry in a financially precarious position,鈥� Jim Kelly, chair of the state鈥檚 Board of Forestry, in March. 鈥淓ven if we have a normal fire season, they鈥檙e going to be running out of money and running to the Emergency Board.鈥�
Rather than passing a funding proposal, the Legislature directed interested parties to come up with long-term wildfire solutions. A group of policymakers, local officials, industry groups and tribal members has been meeting monthly since June, and they aim to publish a progress report by the end of the year.
In an update to lawmakers last month, fire officials said the group has come up with about 20 ideas for potential funding solutions, but they didn鈥檛 get into specifics. They estimated the state needs about $300 million per biennium to cover all its firefighting needs.
鈥淪ome say, 鈥楲et鈥檚 just have the general fund pay for it all,鈥欌�� said Sen. Jeff Golden, D-Ashland, who is on the working group. 鈥淲ell, that鈥檚 absolutely not in the cards with the other pressures on the general fund.鈥�
Golden sees a few options on Oregon鈥檚 table: pulling from the state鈥檚 lottery fund, dipping into the transient lodging tax collected from hotel fees, or taxing the private timber industry, something he proposed in a bill last year.
None are likely to be easy battles at the legislature.
鈥淭he punchline is everywhere you look for adequate funds is a big political fight,鈥� Golden said.
Kotek has offered her own short-term suggestion for stemming future shortfalls.
In a , the governor proposed rerouting $150 million the state is scheduled to save in its 鈥渞ainy day fund鈥� to instead give fire agencies more resources in the next two year budget.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not going to solve every problem,鈥� Kotek told reporters, 鈥渂ut I do think they need additional dollars and that is a good way to spend.鈥�
