Kotek Calls Special Session To Address Wildfire Season

On Tuesday, Governor Tina Kotek called a special session of the Oregon Legislature.  Slated to start Thursday December 12th, the session will allow lawmakers to appropriate funds to pay for the historic 2024 wildfire season.  A record 1.9 million acres burned this wildfire season, which was well beyond the state’s 10-year average of 640,000 acres per season.  Kotek’s office says the price tag to fight fires this year is upwards of $350 million, and while over half of the costs will eventually be covered by disaster relief funds from the federal government, the state needs to pay its bills.

“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,” said Kotek. “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.”

The Governor is asking the Legislature to release a combined total of $218 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon Department of the State Fire Marshal to address the cost of this year’s wildfire season.  This includes meeting the state’s financial obligations to small, medium, and large contractors who worked tirelessly to protect and support Oregonians for more than five months.

“Fighting wildfires of the magnitude we saw this season required a tremendous level of resources that even wildfire experts couldn’t foresee,” said House Speaker Julie Fahey. “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.”

Wildfires this season destroyed at least 42 homes and 132 other structures, and caused severe disruptions and damage to transportation facilities, utility infrastructure, and natural resource economies.

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