ORS 477.155 Wildfire response capacity

The State Forestry Department:

Shall consult and coordinate with federal agencies, private stakeholders and other state agencies to determine the adequacy of state, federal and private wildfire response capacity. The department shall act to facilitate wildfire prevention and wildfire response communication and coordination between federal, state, local and private entities.

Shall increase the department’s wildfire readiness and response capacity, including increases to fire suppression response personnel, aviation assets and necessary administrative support personnel, to the extent the department receives funding for the increase.

Shall, to the extent practicable, seek to leverage state moneys to obtain an increase in federal wildfire resources available to Oregon for effective initial response purposes.

Shall consult with the Department of the State Fire Marshal and with local fire defense board chiefs to assess the adequacy of available mutual aid to provide wildfire response on wildland-urban interface lands and to identify means for providing additional resources from the state or other entities to enhance wildfire response capacity on wildland-urban interface lands.

Shall continually identify workforce development needs associated with wildfire risk mitigation and wildfire response and develop funding proposals for meeting those needs on a sustained basis. The identified workforce development needs must align with wildfire risk to provide an adequate level of wildfire protection, as described in ORS 477.062.

May enter into cooperative agreements or contracts with a local or private entity for the purpose of assisting the entity to organize for purposes of wildfire risk mitigation or wildfire response, including, but not limited to, facilitating wildfire training and the acquisition of firefighting equipment for the entity and assisting with payment for liability insurance and other administrative expenses of the entity associated with wildfire risk mitigation or wildfire response.