Washington, D.C. – Today, Oregon’s U.S. Senators Jeff Merkley and Ron Wyden announced a total of $66,223,786.66 in funding for Oregon from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). These funds are intended to help various agencies and departments around Oregon to financially recover from emergency response efforts relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Labor Day fires.
“As Oregon continues its recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and extreme fire events, this FEMA support will help ensure that State and local first responders and public health agencies are ready to protect Oregonians when the next emergency strikes,” said Merkley. “This federal funding will help ensure these departments and agencies aren’t hamstrung by the extraordinary costs of past events so they can focus on the present and the future and keeping our communities and neighborhoods safe and healthy.”
“The one-two punch of destructive wildfires and an unprecedented public health crisis landed hard on Oregon,” Wyden said. “These vital federal resources will help our state rebound by allowing financial recovery from the devastating costs of responding to those life-and-death threats, ensuring Oregon can continue protecting families and small businesses.”
Award amounts and recipients follows below:
- $35,437,600 to the Oregon Department of Human Services for alternate care sites medical care relating to emergency response and protective measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- $26,304,100 to the Oregon Department of Human Services for temporary and expanded medical facilities relating to emergency response and protective measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- $2,848,887.22 to the Oregon Department of Forestry for emergency protective measures as a result of wildfires and straight-line winds. These funds are intended to take care of costs relating to the emergency response, fire suppression activities, dispatching resources as necessary to the affected areas, and maintaining a presence until the fire in Lake County was fully contained.
- $1,633,199.44 to the Lane County Emergency Management for emergency response and protective measures as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.