The Oregon Department of Forestry has received help from the state’s general fund following the Legislative Emergency Board voting to send $47.5 million 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,” said Senate President Rob Wagner, D-Lake Oswego.
It has been a record-breaking season for acres burned in the state with more than 2,000 fires in 2024 that have burned nearly 2 million acres, more than three times the ten year average.