The Rail Ridge Fire south of Dayville in Grant County scorched more than 135,000 acres. (Courtesy of Grant County Emergency Management)
The Oregon Department of Forestry is getting help from the state’s general fund to pay its bills after a record wildfire season.
The Legislative Emergency Board voted Wednesday to send $47.5 million to the forestry department to help cover the costs of the 2024 wildfire season. Spending on wildfires so far this year has topped nearly $250 million, about 2.5 times the amount budgeted for the forestry department and the State Fire Marshal’s Office for wildfire response.
“The Department of Forestry has done incredible work fighting these fires under difficult weather conditions and with personnel and resources stretched thin across multiple states,” Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego, said in a news release.
About half of the $47.5 million was previously earmarked for a potentially expensive wildfire season, while $20 million was appropriated as emergency funding by the board, made up of 10 representatives and 10 senators.