Oregon lawmakers last week voted to repeal the state’s wildfire hazard maps — along with their unpopular property requirements — with only a single dissenting vote: the Legislature’s lone professional firefighter.
“I know that politically this is the right thing to do for a lot of us,” Democratic state Rep. Dacia Grayber, a firefighter with Tualatin Valley Fire and Rescue, said on the state House floor before the 50-1 vote.
But Grayber said firefighters on the ground see it differently. “We have a tool here that we’re walking away from,” she said, “that could potentially be a game changer.”
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The near-unanimous vote all but ensures Oregon is dropping its main policy response to the most destructive fires in state history.
