Current conditions unavailable
Jennifer Duarte was still reeling from the wildfire that destroyed her family’s home in Rowena when she received a rare piece of good news.
The state of Oregon would handle the clean up of hazardous waste, toxic ash and debris on her property — all of it.
“The State of Oregon will be removing fire debris for free at no cost to property owners,” Department of Environmental Quality employee Charles Kennedy told her and the other residents attending a community meeting in The Dalles on July 2. “Residents who choose to clean their own property do so at your own risk and at your own cost.”
On the screen with Kennedy’s slideshow presentation, a recording of which was reviewed by The Oregonian/OregonLive, Duarte read the words reiterating his promise: Every resident who signed up for the program would “be left with a property ready for rebuilding.”
Duarte picked up a flyer at that meeting that further reinforced the message: the two-phase debris cleanup would be “completely free to residents.”
The offer was a huge relief, amid the stress of getting accustomed to living in a camper trailer with her husband and two dogs, dealing with insurance and transitioning her daughter to college in Portland, Duarte said.
But it turned out the state doesn’t have the money to complete the work. Now, as the state touts its work in the first phase, officials say the second phase will require funding that has not yet been approved. State officials also say they never meant to give Rowena residents the impression that the full clean-up would be free.
In June, the Rowena fire ripped through Wasco County, engulfing more than 50 homes, including Duarte’s, and ultimately scorching some 3,700 acres. At that meeting three weeks later, the state of Oregon said it was going to step up for the people whose lives had been upended.
“They promised us that it would be cleaned up and taken care of,” Duarte said.
She followed the state’s instructions and told her insurance company she didn’t need money for debris removal, because the state would do it.
In July, state contractors came on her property, identifying and removing hazardous household waste like paint cans or pressurized cylinders, the first phase of the cleanup, and then Duarte waited for the announcement that phase two would begin — the most expensive part of the process because it involves cleaning the property of all ash and debris.
And she waited.
Then, after weeks, came the bombshell. On Aug. 8, the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office posted a press release to social media stating there wasn’t funding for the debris cleanup after all.
Now, Duarte and others in the small community west of The Dalles are upset and feel misled. And they’re wondering what to do.
State officials say any statements appearing to promise to pay for cleanup were a miscommunication.
“I cannot apologize enough that we did not communicate this correctly,” Department of Emergency Management spokesperson Erin Zysett told The Oregonian/OregonLive. “Our intent was not to misinform people. Our intent was not to lie to people.”
Duarte, 44, said the state’s communication could not have been more clear. The state-produced, two-page flyer she had picked up at the community meeting was titled “Rowena Fire — Free Debris Removal,” and included the word “free” 12 times.
Under a subsection titled “Phase II — Ash and Debris Cleanup,” the flyer said that:
“Contractors will remove and dispose of all remaining debris. Additionally, contractors may test the soil to confirm no contamination remains from the fire. Once debris cleanup is done, the state will send residents a certificate of completion.”
Zysett said the flyer didn’t adequately convey that phase one of the cleanup was going to be paid for and that the other information in the flyer “was intended to help residents understand what to expect during the interim and Phase 2 periods.”
Duarte said she doesn’t buy this explanation.
“How do you get around, ‘The State of Oregon is providing free debris cleanup and removal,’” she said, reading the flyer’s first sentence out loud. “That’s the definition of phase two — cleanup and removal. Like, how do you go back on that?”
Zysett said they’d pulled talking points from the 2020 Labor Day fires, but they weren’t correct for the Rowena fire, because the 2020 wildfire was declared a federal disaster, meaning more money was available for recovery.
Zysett said the cleanup’s second phase, which is removal of ash and debris, remains contingent on funding. Residents can begin the second phase on their own, she said.
All 68 properties whose owners agreed to allow state contractors on their property have had hazardous waste removed, state records show. It cost the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality $236,676, Zysett said. The second phase is estimated to cost upwards of $4.5 million. Any money for phase two would need to be approved by the Legislature.
Gov. Tina Kotek’s office said they will “work with the local community to make a request of the Legislature for additional funds.” The office did not immediately respond when asked when the governor plans to make the request.
Kotek had initially promised $1.5 million that Zysett said would come from the state’s emergency fund, controlled by the State Emergency Board, which can give money in response to agency requests. The governor’s office said Kotek “recognizes that costs have increased and remains committed to the state covering at least 50%.”
Some Rowena residents have said they’ve decided to move forward with cleanup on their own.
Iris Flores, 26, whose parents lost some structures on their property, though not their house, said her father was raring to start the clean up. She had convinced him to hold off, based on the state’s assurances. They started the work several weeks ago, losing at least a month of time, Flores said.
Flores said she based her understanding of what the state was going to do on the July 2 community meeting, where Kennedy, the DEQ staffer, told attendees they shouldn’t do the cleanup themselves because the state would be doing it for free.
“The cleanup is hazardous. That’s why we’re hiring contractors or professionals in this field to do it,” Kennedy said at the meeting. “And it is costly, and that’s also why we’re doing it — to get you back on your feet at no cost to property owners. State agencies strongly recommend that you do not clean up your property yourself.”
Reached by phone, Kennedy said he was giving a presentation that had been prepared by a DEQ spokesperson — Antony Sparrow.
Duarte, who also attended the meeting, said her husband was skeptical, telling her that nothing is done for free. She assured him, though, that “the state has funds for this kind of thing.” And the informational flyer she picked up at the meeting confirmed Kennedy’s words, saying that “the state will use funding from its Emergency Board to pay for debris removal and will not charge residents for this work.”
Sparrow gave similar assurances during a media tour of the fire-damaged area on July 16.
“We wanted to make it absolutely clear to residents who were impacted by the wildfires that cleanup is coming at no cost to them,” Sparrow said during the tour, which was attended by The Oregonian/Oregonlive. “They are not paying any out-of-pocket expenses.”
But then the offer seemed to unravel, without a word from the state. The second phase of the cleanup couldn’t proceed “until adequate funding is secured,” the Wasco County Sheriff’s Office announced in the Aug. 8 news release. The announcement listed other options residents could pursue, such as working with their insurance companies.
“It feels like a slap in the face,” Duarte said.
Sparrow, asked recently about his earlier statements, said he could not “speculate as to whether something was miscommunicated or not.”
“As far as the confusion that some residents have because they heard that the state was going to pay for everything — I can’t speak to what individual residents heard from whoever,” Sparrow said. “We’ve tried to be as clear as possible to let residents know what the cleanup process looks like.”
Duarte said she is now figuring out if her insurance will accept a claim for debris removal after she had previously told them she didn’t need it.
Sen. Daniel Bonham, R.-The Dalles, said he is “extremely frustrated” on Rowena residents’ behalf and is trying to understand what happened and why. He said he is also putting together a request for money from the State Emergency Board.
“I’m trying to get to the bottom of it,” he said. “But it does just seem like bureaucratic incompetence.”
©2025 Advance Local Media LLC. Visit oregonlive.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
