On January 30, 2019, Governor Brown signed an executive order creating the Governor's Council on Wildfire Response.
The Council is tasked to review Oregon's current model for wildfire prevention, preparedness and response, analyzing whether or not the current model is sustainable given our increasing wildfire risks.
Topic to be considered include, but are not limited to:
- Funding for wildfire response
- Response to fires on protected, under-protected, and unprotected lands
- Wildfire smoke
- Assisting communities affected by wildfires
- Prevention, treatment and cost containment of wildfires
Additionally, Council Members, along with stakeholders, will have the opportunity to participate in one of the three subcommittees created by the Council that focus on:
Mitigation
The Mitigation Committee will develop and recommend priority fire prone areas to the state for
restoration based on high-level priorities set by the Council. The
Committee will also make recommendations regarding the process necessary to
evaluate geographical areas of focus, target limited resources and to develop
the public-private partnership needed to maximize beneficial impacts of forest
restoration on human and natural system health.
Suppression
The Fire Suppression Committee is
charged with evaluating Oregon’s coordinated fire suppression response structure
and protocol while anticipating a significant increase in complexity and
severity of fire seasons. Key findings of this Committee will include
evaluation of Oregon’s fire response funding structure as well as protection responsibilities
and resource coordination amongst state and federal partners across Oregon.
Recovery
The Adaptation and Recovery Committee will examine and report the three key areas:
- Impacts of wildfire on public health.
- The relationship between
land use and the risks of catastrophic wildfire, and Oregon’s disaster response
capabilities.
- How communities
prepare for and recover from wildfire impacts, both from the public health and
economic perspective.
If the Council finds, after a review, that some or all of the current models are not sufficient to ensure Oregon is prepared for increasingly severe wildfire seasons, the Council has been asked to develop recommendations to strengthen, improve, or replace existing systems, and to implement its findings. The recommendations shall be presented to the Governor no later than September 30, 2019.