Oregon Wildfires (2026) and home insurance

If you live in one of the Oregon ZIP codes on the state's wildfire list, your insurer cannot cancel or nonrenew your policy right now, must give you extra time to pay the premium, and must extend any deadline for reporting a claim. Those protections come from an emergency order the Oregon Department of Consumer and Business Services issued on July 31, 2026 and has extended twice, most recently to October 29. They are temporary, so use the time to file claims and line up coverage for renewal.

What happened

Governor Tina Kotek declared a statewide wildfire emergency on June 16, 2026 (Executive Order 26-10), citing critical fire danger. Between July 11 and July 26 she signed a run of executive orders invoking the Emergency Conflagration Act, which sends state firefighting resources to individual fires; the Division of Financial Regulation (DFR) counted 11 fires under the Act by late July. The governor singled out the Akawa Butte Fire near Sisters. FEMA approved Fire Management Assistance Grants for at least eight Oregon fires in July and August, including Akawa Butte, Grasshopper, Fox and the Rowe Creek Complex.

Those grants pay for firefighting, not for homes. There has been no federal major disaster declaration for the 2026 Oregon fires, so FEMA Individual Assistance is not available, and no insured-loss estimate has been published.

What to do now

1. Check whether your ZIP code is listed. DFR Bulletin 2026-6 (August 31, 2026) lists ZIP codes in 26 counties, from Baker, Grant and Wheeler in the east to Jackson, Josephine and Klamath in the south and Clackamas, Hood River and Multnomah near the Columbia Gorge. The bulletin also encourages insurers to let you attest that you were affected even if your ZIP code is not on the list.
2. Report any damage now. The order extends reporting deadlines, but a claim reported early is adjusted while the evidence is fresh. Smoke and ash damage in a standing house counts (wildfire smoke damage claims).
3. Keep living-expense receipts if you were evacuated or the house is unlivable. Many policies pay additional living expenses when a civil authority order keeps you out, typically for up to two weeks under the standard form (making an additional living expenses claim).
4. Keep paying the premium if you can. The grace period delays cancellation for nonpayment; it does not forgive the premium, and the insurer can still bill you.
5. Plan for renewal after October 29. Once the order lapses, normal cancellation and nonrenewal rules return. Ask your agent now whether your insurer plans to renew, and read your home insurance was nonrenewed: what to do now and the nonrenewal action plan if the answer is uncertain.

Claim rules and deadlines

Under the order (listed ZIP codes, through October 29, 2026 unless extended):

• Insurers must extend all deadlines for you to report claims or send claim-related communications, and take all practicable steps to let you report claims.
• They must give a grace period for premium payments that lasts at least until the order ends.
• They must suspend cancellations and nonrenewals, withdraw any notice already sent for a policy not yet cancelled, and pause the 60-day window in which a new policy can be cancelled for underwriting reasons.
• They may not cancel or nonrenew solely because of a claim from the wildfires, except for fraud or intentional misrepresentation.

The order binds admitted insurers. If your policy is with a surplus lines carrier, these protections do not apply; ask the carrier directly what relief it is giving.

Ordinary Oregon rules still run. Insurers must acknowledge a claim within 30 days, finish investigating within 45 days where reasonably possible, and accept or deny within 30 days of proof of loss, with written updates every 45 days if they need longer. The fire policy provision required by ORS 742.240 gives you 24 months from the start of the loss to sue. For a fire in late July 2026, that is late July 2028; check your own dates in the home insurance claim deadline calculator.

Where to get help

Call your insurer first. If you still have concerns, DFR's consumer advocates are at 888-877-4894 (toll free), and DFR's wildfire page posts the order, the bulletin and ZIP code updates. If you cannot find coverage at renewal, the Oregon FAIR Plan is the market of last resort; see FAIR plans explained: the insurer of last resort for homes and disaster moratoriums on cancellations and nonrenewals.