If your home was affected by a wildfire, do not return home until authorities say it is safe. Take steps to protect yourself and your loved ones.
FEMA Disaster Survivor Assistance Teams are in counties across Oregon. To find an assistance center near you, visit the FEMA website. Apply with FEMA event if you have insurance.
**The Fire Program hosted a post-fire webinar series. For webinar information and webinar specific resources, visit the webinar guide.***
If your property has been affected by wildfire, here is a guide to follow, After the Fire Flowchart". This will provide some organization to the process. Then, utilize this "After the Fire Checklist" to chart a course forward and modify to suit your needs. Don't have access to a printer? Open this fillable form right from your phone, "After the Fire Checklist - fillable." Remember, take photos and connect with your local resources.
For a deeper dive into post-fire resources including a GIS interface so you can view severity maps, soils maps, and other valuable information for an individual tax lot for post-fire recovery planning, https://beav.es/afterthefire
Back on the property
- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention offers information on how to Stay Safe After a Wildfire.
- Safely returning to your home after a wildfire. Once you are given the “all clear” to go home, what you should look for outside and inside the home to ensure you and your families safety?
- If in doubt, throw it out! What to do with food and medication after a wildfire.
- Safe clean up to control, contain and capture ash from a fire.
- How to remove smoke smell from a home.
- Maintaining your well after wildfire from the Oregon Water Resources Department
Outside assessment
- Articles on Assessing Damage after a wildfire. Articles include, Assessing forestland conditions; Burned oaks: Which ones will survive; and more.
- Articles on Landscape and Forest Recovery after a wildfire. Articles include, Erosion control; Grass seeding; Determining burn severity; and more.
- After the Burn: Assessing and Managing Your Forestland After a Wildfire is another great publication provided by the University of Idaho Extension.
- Oregon’s Forest Protection Laws
- My forest burned: Now what? from the Woodland Fish & Wildlife group
- After the Fire - Hazard Tree Removal
- Timber Salvage after Wildfires. This publication aims to answer many of the questions you, as a landowner, may have about salvaging timber from burned areas.
- After the Fires: Hydrophobic Soils, University of Idaho Extension
- After a wildfire: Flash floods and debris flows
Contact information and sources of funding
- Wildfires can leave you needing more answers. After a wildfire, many landowners ask about how and what tools are available to help restore their land. Check out,
- Mitigation is acting now to reduce future risk. You can repair/rebuild safer and stronger after wildfires and straight-line winds and Community Education and Outreach can help you on your recovery journey. Contact a Hazard Mitigation Specialist at [email protected] (email)
- Oregon Department of Forestry's Help after a wildfire webpage and Find a Forester
- Natural Resources Conservation Service's After the Fire: Resources for Recovery webpage and connect with a Local Service Centers
- Oregon Farm Service Agency State Emergency Forest Restoration Program (EFRP) and County Office Contact Information
- Oregon Department of Agriculture, Wildfire Resources
- Oregon Watershed Enhancement Board, Maps & Council Contacts
- Wildfire and insurance - If you are affected by wildfires, contact your insurance company as soon as possible to discuss your current situation and learn about next steps. If you still have questions or concerns, the division of financial regulation’s consumer advocates are here to help. Call 888-877-4894 (toll-free) or visit dfr.oregon.gov to find wildfire insurance resources and to connect with the advocacy team.
- 2020 Oregon Wildfire Response and Recovery webpage
- Oregon Forest Industry Directory - The directory facilitates the establishment of business connections between the broad array of interests in Oregon's forestry sector
- Find an arborist to help with hazard tree assessment, https://www.treesaregood.org/findanarborist.
Other resources
- When Wildfire Hits the Ranch: Lessons Learned from the Thomas Fire is a great blog post from the Fire Adapted Communities Learning Network
- The Oregon Post-Wildfire Flood Playbook is a resource to communities affected by a wildfire that need to navigate the complex web of federal and state programs and agencies.
- The Coalitions & Collaboratives, Inc. group has created a comprehensive Post-Fire Resources webpage including, 'returning after the fire,' flooding & weather,' 'post-fire resources,' 'how to stay safe,' and 'long-term recovery.
