NORTHWEST
East Oregonian
A2
Thursday, April 22, 2021
Lloyd’s of London could again pay for Oregon wildfire costs
By GARY A. WARNER
Oregon Capital Bureau
SALEM — With the prospect
of a catastrophic 2021 fire season
looming, Oregon will rely again on
its one of a kind $25 million wild-
fire risk policy with the world’s
oldest continually active insurance
marketplace.
Lloyd’s of London, which traces
its roots to a 17th century coffee-
house near the Tower of London,
has insured the Oregon Department
of Forestry against wildfire losses
since 1973. No other state has wild-
fire insurance.
“It’s a catastrophic firefighting
expense policy,” said ODF spokes-
man Jim Gersbach.
Oregon’s trees are among Lloyd’s
one of a kind insurance policies that
have included 1940s actress Betty
Grable’s legs, comedian Jimmy
Durante’s outsized nose, rock star
Bruce Springsteen’s voice, Rolling
Stones guitarist Keith Richards’
hands, and crooner Tom Jones’
chest hair.
The plan will pay up to $25
million of wildfire costs in Oregon.
Under the policy, Oregon covers the
first $50 million in fire costs, then
Lloyd’s pays the next $25 million.
Anything above that level is paid
for by the state. When costs get that
high, federal disaster money usually
pays for a large share of the costs.
The worst wildfires in the state’s
history swept down out of the west
Cascades slopes into the Willa-
mette Valley over the 2020 Labor
Day weekend. The 16 major fires
burned 1 million acres, destroyed
more than 4,000 homes and other
InciWeb/Contributed Photo
Downed power lines were identified as the cause of 13 fires in the Santiam Canyon during 2020. With the pros-
pect of a catastrophic 2021 fire season looming, Oregon will rely again on its unique $25 million wildfire risk
policy with the world’s oldest continually active insurance marketplace.
structures, caused 40,000 people to
be evacuated, and killed 11 people.
By the third week of September
2020, the Northwest Interagency
Coordination Center, a logisti-
cal center for regional wildfire
response, estimated Oregon’s fires
would cost $53 million, which put
the state and Lloyd’s on alert that a
claim might be filed.
The final cost of the Oregon
wildfires to the Oregon Department
of Forestry was about $130 million.
The bill was offset by more than $70
million in federal disaster aid, along
with fees the state earned for fight-
ing fires on land it did not control
and reimbursement for other aid.
“The cost for suppressing the
2020 wildfires is estimated at just
under $50 million, which is why it
did not trigger the policy,” Gersbach
said.
The current policy runs through
April 15, 2022. Lloyd’s of London
accounts for 90% of the policy cost,
while Nashville-based Acceptance
Insurance carried 10%.
The Oregon Legislature will
vote on a portion of the premium in
the Oregon Department of Forestry
budget, which is now before the
Joint Ways and Means Committee.
When Lloyd’s of London and
the state negotiated a renewal of
the policy, it included a relatively
Forecast for Pendleton Area
TODAY
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SATURDAY
SUNDAY
MONDAY
modest 3% premium increase to
$4,131,871 per year. The cost is
split between the state and private
timberland owners. Landowners
pay their share through a property
tax formula.
The Oregon Department of
Forestry, which holds the insurance
contract for the state, says the policy
has saved the state millions over the
years. The agency is responsible for
about 16 million acres of forested
land — about half the total in the
state.
ODF is also the key firefight-
ing agency on 2.3 million acres
controlled by the U.S. Bureau of
Land Management.
Northwest’s ‘normal’ temps rising
By DON JENKINS
Capital Press
Breezy this
morning
Partly sunny
A few morning
showers
69° 42°
67° 46°
Cloudy with a
couple of showers
Showers around;
winds subsiding
PENDLETON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
59° 41°
60° 41°
62° 38°
HERMISTON TEMPERATURE FORECAST
73° 44°
71° 49°
62° 41°
66° 44°
OREGON FORECAST
68° 39°
ALMANAC
Shown is today’s weather. Temperatures are today’s highs and tonight’s lows.
PENDLETON
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Seattle
Olympia
58/44
62/38
73/39
Longview
Kennewick Walla Walla
68/45
Lewiston
65/45
76/44
Astoria
56/45
Pullman
Yakima 75/40
64/42
68/45
Portland
Hermiston
67/45
The Dalles 73/44
Salem
Corvallis
60/40
Yesterday
Normals
Records
La Grande
64/37
PRECIPITATION
John Day
Eugene
Bend
68/41
66/31
65/34
Ontario
72/42
Caldwell
Burns
71°
29°
66°
40°
92° (1934) 20° (1951)
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
Albany
62/41
0.00"
Trace
0.57"
1.20"
0.48"
3.68"
WINDS (in mph)
71/42
67/25
0.00"
Trace
0.83"
3.34"
4.98"
4.79"
through 3 p.m. yest.
HIGH
LOW
TEMP.
Pendleton 60/35
66/42
24 hours ending 3 p.m.
Month to date
Normal month to date
Year to date
Last year to date
Normal year to date
HERMISTON
Enterprise
69/42
68/43
67°
34°
64°
40°
92° (1934) 26° (1951)
PRECIPITATION
Moses
Lake
65/42
Aberdeen
64/37
70/44
Tacoma
Yesterday
Normals
Records
Spokane
Wenatchee
65/47
Today
Boardman
Pendleton
Medford
74/40
Fri.
WSW 8-16
W 10-20
SW 8-16
W 6-12
SUN AND MOON
Klamath Falls
65/25
Forecasts and graphics provided by AccuWeather, Inc. ©2021
Sunrise today
Sunset tonight
Moonrise today
Moonset today
5:57 a.m.
7:51 p.m.
2:24 p.m.
4:14 a.m.
Full
Last
New
First
Apr 26
May 3
May 11
May 19
NATIONAL EXTREMES
“This helps the agency keep fires
from spreading to other ODF-pro-
tected lands, minimizing overall
cost and potential loss,” Gersbach
said. “If a fire on BLM land escapes
initial attack, BLM is no longer
eligible to receive large fire cost
reimbursement.”
In those cases, BLM must reim-
burse the state for ODF’s firefight-
ing costs. Reimbursements for the
2020 fires are one of the reasons
the overall costs to ODF fell below
the minimum level for the Lloyd’s
policy to be activated.
Gersbach said during the 48-year
relationship with Lloyd’s, the state
has received $99 million in claims
payments against $75 million in
premiums it paid. The most recent
claims ODF made were for $25
million in 2013 and $23.2 million
in 2014.
The consecutive years of claims
led Lloyd’s to nearly double the
premium from $2 million to $3.75
million. The deductible rose from
$20 million to $50 million, while
Lloyd’s maintained a cap on its
payout to $25 million.
Some state lawmakers balked at
the increase, suggesting the state
instead create a $60 million fire-
fighting trust fund that the state
would finance directly. But there
were concerns that in tight budget
years, future legislatures or gover-
nors might be tempted to “sweep”
the fund to use to finance unrelated
programs or projects.
There had been concern that
a 2020 claim could drive up the
premium price as Lloyd’s faced a
historic year of payouts driven by
the COVID-19 pandemic.
SALEM — The climate
for the Northwest and most
of the contiguous U.S. has
become slightly warmer in
the past decade, the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration reported on
Tuesday, April 20.
The warming was wide-
spread, according to NOAA’s
National Centers for Environ-
mental Information, though
Montana and the Dakotas
bucked the trend and slightly
cooled.
“There are some areas that
actually have cooler tempera-
ture normals, especially in the
spring in the North-Central
U.S.,” said Michael Palecki,
manager of NOAA’s climate
normals.
NOAA updates every
10 years what’s considered
“normal” weather. Statisti-
cians analyzed temperature
and precipitation readings
from thousands of weather
stations between 1991 and
2020.
NOAA will release the
new normals on May 4.
Palecki and other NOAA
officials held a conference
call with reporters to hit
some highlights.
Because two decades over-
lap, the new climatic normals
aren’t that much different.
Still, the new norms likely
mean fewer seasons, months
and days with temperatures
“above normal.”
Annual mean tempera-
tures in Washington generally
increased by up to 0.5 degree
Fahrenheit, though some
places warmed slightly more
and some did not change.
Oregon, Idaho and North-
ern California had a similar
pattern, though patches of
Southern Idaho warmed by
more than 1 degree.
The warming was not
uniform throughout the
seasons. Nor mal high
temperatures in April and
October in much of Wash-
ington, Oregon and Idaho
will now be slightly cooler
than previously.
“Not every month in every
location in the U.S. is always
warming despite the fact that
we generally are warming in
our climate,” Palecki said.
Warming shows up more
clearly by comparing 1991-
2020 temperatures to early
20th century normals, he said.
The annual mean temperature
has increased in every state
since 1901-30.
“There’s a huge difference
in temperatures over time as
we go from cooler climates
in the early part of the 20th
century,” Palecki said. “We’re
really seeing the fingerprints
of climate change in the new
normals.”
Roughly speaking, the
eastern half the U.S. is getting
wetter, while the western half
is getting drier, though there
are exceptions.
Western Washington and
the Idaho Panhandle became
wetter in the past decade, as
did Montana and the Dakotas.
Much of Eastern Oregon
joined California and the
Southwest to form a large
region that became drier.
The World Meteorologi-
cal Organization on Monday,
April 19, released its annual
global climate report.
Global mean temperatures
in 2020 were approximately
2.16 degrees Fahrenheit above
baseline temperatures from
1850 to 1900, according to
the report.
Northern Eurasia was
especially hot, but some areas
were cooler than average,
including Western Canada,
parts of Brazil, Northern India
and Southeastern Australia.
Yesterday’s National Extremes: (for the 48 contiguous states)
High 92° in Phoenix, Ariz. Low -8° in Burgess Junction, Wyo.
IN BRIEF
NATIONAL WEATHER TODAY
Cattle in Oregon found dead
amid strange circumstances
Shown are noon positions of weather systems and precipitation. Temperature bands are highs for the day.
-10s
-0s
0s
showers t-storms
10s
rain
20s
flurries
30s
snow
40s
ice
50s
60s
cold front
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PRINEVILLE — Cattle in Oregon are again
showing up dead under strange circumstances.
Over the past three months, seven animals
have been found mutilated on ranch land in
central Oregon’s Crook County, the Northwest
News Network reported Tuesday, April 20.
In most cases, the dead animal’s sex organs,
tongue or eyes are cut away cleanly and there
is no blood.
The cases call to mind similar discover-
ies of five mutilated bulls in 2019 in Harney
County, where five bulls were found dead in a
2-mile radius with their sex organs and tongues
removed. There have also been cases in recent
years in Wasco, Umatilla, Wheeler and Lake
counties in recent years. There have also been
cases reported in Arizona.
Similar cases of mutilated livestock and even
elk and deer have surfaced periodically across
the country and, in the 1970s, a rash of livestock
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mutilations across the U.S. West and Midwest
struck fear in rural areas.
Thousands of cattle and other livestock rang-
ing from Minnesota to New Mexico were found
dead with their reproductive organs and some-
times part of their faces removed.
In the current Oregon cases, the sheriffs
from several affected counties are trying to
coordinate and share information, the network
reported. Harney County in 2019 also worked
with the Oregon State Police to try to crack the
mystery.
The theories range from scavengers such
as carrion bugs eating the carcasses to people
attacking the animals to cause financial harm
to ranchers.
“It’s upsetting, because, again, it’s our live-
lihood. It’s how they make their money and
how they feed their families and support them-
selves,” Crook County Undersheriff James
Savage said of the ranchers who lost animals
most recently.
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