Oregon Department of Forestry out of money for wildfire season [Video]

PORTLAND, Ore. — The Oregon Department of Forestry needs emergency funding to pay for the most expensive wildfire season in state history, with record-high costs of $250 million and counting.

As of mid-September, more than 1.9 million acres of land had burned across Oregon — nearly double the acreage burned in the notorious 2020 wildfire season, and far above any other year in ODF’s recorded history.

“The scale … people have to see it to understand just how many acres burned across the state this summer,” said Kyle Williams, ODF’s deputy director for fire operations. “Just because the smoke wasn’t present in our more populated areas doesn’t mean that (wildfires) weren’t deeply impactful.”

ODF has now exhausted its funds. In order to pay firefighters and contractors, the department is returning to its usual process of acquiring more money from the …