Salem, Oregon – Oregon’s wildfire story is no longer just about the flames that make the evening news. It is also about the quieter work happening before smoke appears: cleared space around homes, stronger local fire agencies, new engines in small communities, and a state trying to learn faster than the fires are changing.
Five years after Senate Bill 762, Oregon is marking a milestone for two programs built around that idea: Fire Adapted Oregon and Response Ready Oregon. Created through the Department of the State Fire Marshal, the programs were designed to attack the wildfire problem from both ends, helping communities reduce risk before a fire starts, while giving firefighters more tools when one does.
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Fire Adapted Oregon focuses on the home and neighborhood side of wildfire safety. Its work includes education, defensible space, home hardening, grants, partnerships and regional support. The goal is simple, but difficult: help people understand what can burn, what can be changed, and how local action can lower the odds of disaster.
Over the past five years, that work has moved from concept to measurable action. The program trained 502 defensible space assessors from 94 agencies, and those assessors completed 6,539 assessments across Oregon. That means thousands of properties have been looked at through a wildfire-risk lens, not after a fire, but before one arrives.
A major part of the message has been the first five feet around homes and structures. That small zone can carry big consequences. Fire Adapted Oregon has pushed clearer guidance on defensible space while expanding partnerships, including work with the Insurance Institute for Business and Home Safety. The program has also supported mitigation and home hardening investments through grants, with delivery organized across nine districts so the work can fit different local needs.
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Response Ready Oregon tackles the other half of the equation: what happens when fire does ignite. The program was created to strengthen the fire service’s ability to move quickly, respond safely and stop fires while they are still small. Its Engine Program delivered 76 new engines and tactical water tenders to local fire agencies, while other investments supported seasonal staffing, immediate response and pre-positioning.
Those resources matter because wildfire response is often a race against time. A small fire can become a community emergency when weather, dry fuel and terrain line up. Response Ready Oregon also strengthened the state’s three all-hazard incident management teams within the Oregon Fire Mutual Aid System, while regional mobilization coordinators help connect local chiefs with resources and support.
The five-year mark arrives as Oregon faces a harsher wildfire reality. In 2025, the Rowena Fire destroyed 56 homes. That local loss fits a broader western pattern. A study published in PNAS Nexus found a 246% rise in wildfire-related structure loss across the western United States between 1999–2009 and 2010–2020. The study noted the increase was not caused by burned acreage alone, underscoring how development, exposure and fire behavior have combined to raise the stakes.
That is why Oregon officials are framing the anniversary as progress, not completion. The next five years are expected to bring stronger home hardening grant programs, better data collection and integration, and more focus on vulnerable communities and structure loss reduction.
For Response Ready Oregon, the path forward includes continued investment in staffing grants, immediate response and pre-positioning. State leaders also point to the need for stable long-term funding as wildfire seasons intensify. Planned improvements include modernizing the fire defense board system, improving technology and communications, developing better situational awareness tools, and building additional agreements with other states for surge capacity.
The lesson from five years of work is not that Oregon can eliminate wildfire. It cannot. But the state can change what happens before the wind shifts, before engines roll, and before families are forced to leave home. That is the promise behind Fire Adapted Oregon and Response Ready Oregon: fewer surprises, faster response and communities better prepared for the fires ahead.
