CLATSOP COUNTY, Ore. — Local firefighters who helped battle wildfires in Southern California are now back home.
Fire chiefs on Oregon’s North Coast say the roughly 17-day deployment provided critical support in the effort to beat back fires that have decimated parts of Los Angeles and Ventura counties. It was also a chance for the firefighters to gain important experience working under other commands and in unfamiliar conditions.
It will also put some money in the bank.
The total damage and economic loss from the California fires has soared from an estimated $50 billion to more than $250 billion. It is one of the most costly natural disasters in U.S. history, according to recent reporting by the LA Times.
One set of costs California will eventually need to account for are the reimbursements it will pay to fire departments like the Astoria and Seaside Fire Departments who sent personnel and equipment.
Astoria Fire Chief Dan Crutchfield anticipates his department could receive around $83,000 in compensation for the use of one of its engines and the deployment of two firefighters.
The bulk of that money, when it arrives, will go back to city coffers to make the budget whole again.
But Crutchfield estimates that around $33,000 of the reimbursement will be for the use of the engine alone. That portion will go into a savings account designated for fire department equipment and to help the city offset major costs in the future.
A new fire engine the city ordered several years ago cost around $800,000. Fire equipment, in general, doesn’t come cheap.
With the savings account, Crutchfield said the idea is to put aside money for several years so that “when the time comes when we need our next engine, if we have several hundred thousand saved up, that will make that purchase a little bit easier.”
Since last summer, the Astoria Fire Department has deployed to out-of-area fires five times. Between those responses and the most recent response to California, Crutchfield estimates they have generated roughly $80,000 for the savings account.
He said the reimbursements are not the point of deployment and they are not something the Astoria or Seaside Fire Departments count on when it comes to crafting an annual budget. But for small departments, they can be significant boosts.
“A lot of our departments are really tiny,” said Seaside Fire Chief Joey Daniels, adding, “We can’t just go out and buy new [equipment], whether it’s a staff vehicle or a brush truck or just gear. Wildland gear is expensive.”
Still, he emphasized, compensation is not the most important part.
“It is so we can cover costs and what it costs to go down there and it does help with equipment,” Daniels said. “But the big thing is just helping people.”
Crutchfield agreed and added, “The number one reason for doing this is they would do it for us as well.”
The number and length of deployments vary season to season, but coastal firefighters have seen a high number of deployments to fires across Oregon in recent years.
Oregon’s 10-year average for wildfire damage is 640,000 acres. But in 2020, more than 1.2 million acres burned. It was a record that only stood a few years.
Last year, nearly 2 million acres burned, making 2024 one of the most destructive wildfire seasons in Oregon’s history. The cost came to more than $350 million in December, and could be closer to over half a billion dollars when all the accounting is done.
In December, the state Legislature passed a bill during a special session to allocate around $218 million to the Oregon Department of Forestry and the Oregon State Fire Marshal to cover pending expenses and outstanding bills from the 2024 wildfire season.
That fire season prompted Gov. Tina Kotek to declare a state of emergency and request a federal major disaster declaration. In addition, Kotek requested a waiver for Oregon’s required cost-share for emergency response activities.
Former President Joe Biden approved the major disaster request in his final days in office.
Historically, Oregon’s North Coast does not see the kind of regular, devastating fires experienced in the eastern half of the state. But wildland fire response is a regular and prominent topic for local and regional fire chiefs.
“As it comes to the dangers of wildfire, they’re going to be more prone to it,” Crutchfield said of Eastern Oregon, “but I don’t want anybody to take their guard down because of that. Because it certainly can happen. … Even though we do get a lot of rain and things look nice and green, things do dry out and there are situations where we certainly could have a significant event on the coast and it’s important that everybody’s prepared to respond to those.”
Deployment helps other agencies and communities, but Crutchfield says it helps his firefighters, too, providing an opportunity to experience fires and fire conditions not typically seen on the coast.
“They’re also learning,” he said, “and they bring those new skills and experiences back home, which makes them a better firefighter for us when they come back.”