President Joe Biden announced Thursday that he is granting major disaster declarations for Gilliam, Grant, Umatilla, Wasco and Wheeler counties, allowing them to access federal funding through the Federal Emergency Management Agency. FEMA will provide funds on a cost-sharing basis for response and recovery related to wildfires that occurred between July 10 and Aug. 23. Money will be available to tribes, as well as local, state and federal agencies working with the counties and eligible nonprofits.
The approval follows a disaster declaration request from Gov. Tina Kotek and Oregon’s congressional delegation in October at the end of Oregon’s historic season. Wildfires last year burned a record of nearly 2 million acres in Oregon, destroyed at least 42 homes and 132 other structures along with hundreds of thousands of acres of rangeland used for livestock grazing.
Oregon’s U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley said in a news release that the federal disaster designation is essential for the counties to rebuild.
“Last summer’s wildfire season was devastating for many Oregonians and our economy as a record number of acres burned, destroying dozens of homes and damaging valuable rangelands, cattle, and miles of fences,” he said.
The funding comes on top of $2 million in emergency aid and loans for farmers and ranchers in eastern Oregon offered by the U.S. Department of Agriculture in August.
Kotek declared a state of emergency in Oregon in July over the imminent threat of wildfires. And during the season, she invoked the Conflagration Act a record 17 times to mobilize firefighters and equipment to protect buildings and infrastructure.
The wildfire disaster declaration is the second for extreme weather events in the state in 2024. The Biden administration declared a disaster in Oregon in January due to major wind, ice and rain storms. That declaration helped open up federal funding for local governments and nonprofits to repair or replace facilities damaged in by landslides and mudslides and punishing winds in Benton, Clackamas, Coos, Hood River, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Multnomah, Sherman, Tillamook and Wasco counties along with the Confederated Tribes of Siletz Indians.