Oregon · statute · Or. Rev. Stat. ch. 477 · 122 active provisions
As used in this chapter: (1) “Additional fire hazard” means a hazard that has been determined to exist by the forester pursuant to ORS 477.580. (2) “Board” means the State Board of Forestry. (3) “Campfire” means any open fire used for cooking, personal warmth, lighting, ceremonial or aesthetic purposes that is hand bui…
(1) The preservation of the forests and the conservation of the forest resources through the prevention and suppression of forest fires hereby are declared to be the public policy of the State of Oregon. (2) In order to accomplish the purposes of the policy stated in this section: (a) The need for a complete and coordi…
(1) For the purpose of an investigation as to liability for cost of hazard abatement, fire abatement or damages under this chapter, the Attorney General, at the request of the State Forester, may administer oaths and affirmations, take testimony or depositions and by subpoena compel the: (a) Attendance of witnesses; (b…
(1) For the purpose of maintaining air quality, the State Forester and the Department of Environmental Quality shall approve a plan for the purpose of managing smoke in areas they shall designate. The plan shall delineate regulated areas to which this section applies. The plan shall also include but not be limited to c…
As used in this section and ORS 477.025: (1) “Wildland” means: (a) Forestland, as defined in ORS 477.001; or (b) An unimproved area that contains enough unmanaged vegetation, at any time of the year, to constitute a fire hazard, in the judgment of the forester, regardless of how the area is zoned or taxed. (2) “Wildlan…
The Legislative Assembly recognizes that the wildland-urban interface in Oregon varies by condition, situation, fire hazard and risk, that different wildland-urban interface fire protection problems exist across the state because of this variability, and that these different problems necessitate varied fire prevention…
(1) All forestland that by reason of its lack of adequate fire protection endangers life, forest resources or property is declared to be a public nuisance. (2) Whenever the forester learns thereof, the forester may direct the owner or operator of such forestland to take proper steps for its protection and advise the ow…
Any fire on any forestland in Oregon burning uncontrolled or without proper action being taken to prevent its spread, notwithstanding its origin, is declared a public nuisance by reason of its menace to life, forest resources or property. The spread of fire in forestland across an ownership boundary is prima facie evid…
(1) Each owner and operator of forestland on which a fire exists or from which it may have spread, notwithstanding the origin or subsequent spread thereof, shall immediately proceed to control and extinguish such fire when its existence comes to the knowledge of the owner or operator, without awaiting instructions from…
For the purpose of ORS 477.066, notification to the owner or operator of the forestland, is considered sufficient notification to the owner of the existence of a fire.
(1) In case an owner or operator fails to perform the duty required by ORS 477.066, or is willful, malicious or negligent in the origin or subsequent spread of the fire, the actual cost incurred by the forester or a forest protective association or agency in controlling or extinguishing the fire shall be paid by the ow…
Notwithstanding any other law, in any action authorized by ORS 477.068 to collect the costs incurred, the plaintiff may unite in the same complaint causes of action based upon any or all of the grounds therein mentioned.
Any person who willfully or negligently sets a fire or causes a fire to be set for which efforts to control or extinguish the fire in order to protect forestland within a forest protection district from fire are exerted by the forester or any forest protective association or agency under contract or agreement with the…
(1) As used in this section: (a) “Economic and property damage” means the sum of: (A) The lesser of the difference in the fair market value of property immediately before and immediately after a wildfire or the cost of restoring property to the condition the property was in immediately before a wildfire; and (B) Any ot…
(1) As used in this section, “wildfire” has the meaning given that term in ORS 477.089. (2) A person is not liable in a civil action for injury to or destruction of property arising out of a wildfire, except to the extent evidence demonstrates that: (a) An action or inaction of the person constituted negligence or a hi…
(1) An owner of forestland shall not be subject to the provisions of ORS 477.068 and 477.089, where the origin or subsequent spread of a fire was the direct result of training activity by the Oregon National Guard or of any component of the Armed Forces of the United States. (2) Notwithstanding any other law, the Orego…
(1) The State Forester, or any agency or organization with responsibility under this chapter to suppress fires, may not prohibit an owner or the owner’s agent from suppressing a fire occurring on the owner’s property or that poses a threat to the owner’s property. (2) Notwithstanding subsection (1) of this section, the…
(1) Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this section, the owner or operator of forestland is not subject to the obligations or penalties of ORS 164.335 and 477.740 or 477.064, 477.066 and 477.068 if: (a) Forest patrol assessments are regularly paid for the forestland; (b) Such forestland is protected pursu…
(1) As used in this section: (a) “Voluntarily” means not undertaken as a condition of employment or with an expectation of remuneration. (b) “Wildfire” means a fire burning uncontrolled: (A) On private forestland; (B) On private cropland, pasture, rangeland or other private agricultural land; or (C) That threatens a st…
(1) A forest protective association, rangeland protection association as defined in ORS 477.315 or public body as defined in ORS 174.109, or a person acting as an agent of a forest protective association, rangeland protection association or public body, is not liable for any injury to persons or property resulting from…
(1) As used in this section, “firefighter” means an employee of the State Forestry Department or of a forest protective association, as defined in ORS 477.001, whose duties include the abatement of uncontrolled fire as described in ORS 477.064. (2) The State Forester may authorize the expenditure of funds from the Stat…
(1) The State Forestry Department shall establish and maintain an expanded system of automated smoke detection cameras that includes staffing in detection centers to monitor and alert fire suppression staff when fires are detected. (2) The system must serve the purposes of quickly detecting, locating and extinguishing…
The State Forestry Department: (1) Shall consult and coordinate with federal agencies, private stakeholders and other state agencies to determine the adequacy of state, federal and private wildfire response capacity. The department shall act to facilitate wildfire prevention and wildfire response communication and coor…
As used in the Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement as set forth in ORS 477.200, “all possible aid” means the assistance that a member can provide in response to a request for aid without materially diminishing the overall fire prevention or protection capabilities of the member at the time of the request and f…
If the Northwest Wildland Fire Protection Agreement is amended in accordance with Article IX of the agreement, the Governor shall invoke Article X of the agreement to withdraw from the agreement until such time as the Legislative Assembly ratifies the amendment, or during the interim between legislative sessions, until…