Fire costs may trigger Oregon’s policy with Lloyd’s of London

The policy with the 335-year-old British risk insurance pool will help pay for fighting fires that burned 225,007 acres of the 16 million acres protected by ODF.

ODF has purchased the insurance since 1973 as a hedge against firefighting costs that could overwhelm the budget of a heavily forested state with limited resources to battle major blazes.

The last district in Oregon declared the fire season over on Oct. 22. While the insurance coverage runs from April to April, Gersbach said all but a fraction of fires and costs occur between late spring and mid-autumn.

ODF calculates its 2021 spending on fire suppression at just under $129. 2 million.