As Oregon faces what’s supposed to be an intense wildfire season, counties are grappling with federal cuts and uncertainty that could hinder their ability to help Oregonians during fires, floods and other disasters.
The Trump administration hasn’t renewed a critical grant that helps fund local disaster response, leaving Oregon counties and tribal governments vulnerable ahead of a potentially active wildfire season.
“Getting alerts out will be a little bit later or delayed, or not as clear and concise,” said Bryan Lee, emergency manager for Benton County and chair of Oregon’s Emergency Management Command Council.
“The other impacts would be potentially no mass care shelter sites being stood up or managed very well.”
Oregon’s counties have asked state lawmakers to help by putting $9 million toward local emergency systems in the next two-year budget. But the chance of that happening is somewhat slim during a leaner-than-expected budget cycle.
This federal freeze to county and tribal government funds comes at a time when President Donald Trump is pushing to phase out the Federal Emergency Management Agency — and when cuts to the Forest Service have left some federal leaders worried about their ability to coordinate wildfire response.
Many of Oregon’s disaster programs rely heavily on federal grants. Those dollars help fund everything from radio communications and tsunami evacuation sites to professionals who push out evacuation alerts during wildfires.
Erin McMahon, director of the Oregon Department of Emergency Management, said she’s most concerned about rural areas in Eastern Oregon that are prone to wildfires.
“What are we going to be able to do to support those communities to keep those communities safe if those local emergency managers are not able to be there because there is a gap in that federal funding?” McMahon said.
Oregon’s state budget doesn’t fund counties’ emergency management programs, which state law requires counties to have. Most of those programs are funded by local taxpayers and federal grants.
Emergency management grant on hold
For years, the annual $4 million federal Emergency Management Performance Grant has been distributed to Oregon counties and tribal governments. FEMA usually distributes this money ahead of counties’ fiscal years, which start in July, but it has yet to do so.
FEMA didn’t respond to OPB’s emailed questions about the grant.
For some rural counties, this grant has made up nearly half of their emergency management budgets, mostly helping pay administrative costs for emergency managers. Those are professionals who prepare for disasters, like by designing evacuation routes and identifying evacuation shelters.
When there’s a fire, flood or other disaster, these are the people who issue evacuation alerts or warnings. They also help public safety teams — like police, fire and state agencies — work together. After disasters, these emergency managers then apply for federal disaster funds to help pay for cleanup and recovery.
Most Oregon counties only have one or two emergency managers on staff.
Union County Emergency Manager Nick Vora said rural counties like his are already working on tight budgets.
“Responding to fires, making sure that evacuations are done in a timely manner, it’s all supported on a very thin margin,” he said.
Vora said leaders there are planning ahead by shifting around funds in the county budget to keep him on staff.
But federal cuts will hinder Union County’s plans for restoring sewer services at the county fairgrounds, where people might be evacuated during a disaster. That project is estimated to cost about $4 million.
“It’s going to make things that much more difficult for the county to be able to pool funds from other places towards a project like that,” Vora said.
Other counties might need to shift disaster response tasks — like sending emergency alerts — onto other staffers who lack the expertise.
Disaster response cuts will have impacts on fire season, manager says
The immediate effect of losing this grant, on top of Forest Service and FEMA cuts, will be felt during this upcoming wildfire season, said Lee, the Benton County emergency manager.
Lee said the Forest Service has asked Oregon’s emergency managers if they could step in and help.
“Of course we will, but that opens up a whole other area of concern for us,” Lee said.
During an interview with OPB on Wednesday, U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz, who represents Oregon’s District 2 covering about two-thirds of the state, downplayed staffing cuts to the Forest Service.
“People running around yelling about this, you would think they’d been cut by half,” Bentz said.
Bentz pointed to a memo from U.S. House of Representatives legal assistant Mason Justice, dated Wednesday, outlining Forest Service layoff numbers.
The memo says in Oregon and Washington, about 250 Forest Service employees have been laid off. Nationwide, it says, the Forest Service has about 1,000 fewer permanent positions than it had last year.
“It’s super important that these kinds of numbers be brought to bear, so people aren’t unduly scared about the personnel that are still working for the Forest Service,” Bentz said.
This story comes to you from the Northwest News Network, a collaboration between public media organizations in Oregon and Washington.
