In southeastern Oregon, some of the first responders to the season's most destructive rangeland fires were not career firefighters — they were ranchers. Members of Oregon's Rangeland Fire Protection Associations (RFPAs) once again proved indispensable during the 2026 fire season, filling a critical gap in first-response capacity across the vast, remote landscapes east of the Cascade Range.
Who Are the RFPAs?
Rangeland Fire Protection Associations are volunteer organizations of ranchers and agricultural workers who provide wildland fire suppression on private and state lands, primarily in rural Oregon and neighboring states. Armed with surplus military and government vehicles — Humvees, brush trucks, water tenders — retrofitted for fire suppression, RFPA members are often the only firefighters who can reach a new ignition quickly enough to make a difference in Oregon's enormous, sparsely populated eastern counties.
Tom Sharp, who leads the North Harney Rangeland Fire Protection Association based in Harney County, described the RFPA mission in straightforward terms: “We extend the capacity — the resource capacity and the effectiveness — of first response to the state and federal government wildland fire agencies.”
The Cost of the 2026 Season
The North Harney RFPA was heavily engaged in fighting the Second Flat Fire, a lightning-caused fire that burned more than 100,000 acres of range and pine in late July. During the response, one of the RFPA's military-surplus Humvees sustained damage to its automatic transmission hydraulic system, losing all transmission fluid somewhere in the sage. Sharp and his son limped the vehicle to the Shoshone Engine Xchange in Hines, where it underwent repairs — in forward gear only, because reverse was unavailable until the fix was complete.
The anecdote is both a practical example of the challenges RFPAs face and a window into the culture of improvisation and resilience that defines these organizations.
The Economic Stakes
The fires that RFPAs fight in eastern Oregon are not abstract threats — they are direct attacks on the economic foundations of ranching communities. The Coleman Creek Fire, burning east of Burns, scorched approximately 308,863 acres and blackened 40 miles along U.S. Highway 20. For ranchers like Sharp, losing rangeland to wildfire means losing the grazing capacity that their livestock operations depend on.
“In this part of the country, certainly here in eastern Oregon, we are an agricultural-based economy: ranching and farming, livestock grazing,” Sharp said. “When we lose our rangelands to wildfire, we're losing natural resources that support the agricultural industry here.”
Looking Ahead: Equipment and Readiness
With the 2026 season winding down, Oregon's RFPAs are turning their attention to equipment repair, maintenance, and restocking for next year. The Second Flat Fire's damage to the North Harney RFPA's Humvee is one example of the wear these volunteer units absorb during active seasons. Funding for RFPA equipment and operations has long been a challenge — these groups often operate on thin budgets, relying on state support, grants, and in-kind contributions from ranching community members.
State and federal land management agencies have taken increasing note of the RFPAs' value and have worked to strengthen coordination and support mechanisms in recent years. As Oregon looks ahead to what could be another challenging fire year in 2027, the role of these volunteer rancher firefighters will remain central to the state's fire response capacity in its most remote and vulnerable landscapes.