SALEM — Officials at the Oregon Department of Forestry are getting anxious, as the Oregon heads into fire season without the wildfire insurance policy the state has traditionally purchased.

Forest landowners, lawmakers and other state officials are mulling over a proposal that would more than double Oregon’s wildfire insurance deductible, from $20 million to $50 million.

“As far as the Department of Forestry is concerned, if there’s going to be a policy, we’d like to see it in place as soon as possible because the last two years we’ve seen fires early in the season,” said Rod Nichols, a spokesman for the Oregon Department of Forestry. “Because of the dry, warm conditions, we could see fires early on be substantial. This is the fifth year now of drought in the Northwest and Oregon.”

The state usually has a policy in place by April, but the past two costly wildfire seasons caused insurers to reconsider whether to issue coverage to the state. The state “sent a contingent to London” earlier this year to present a case for Lloyd’s to continue insuring the state, said Tim Keith, administrator of the Emergency Fire Cost Committee that oversees money raised through fees paid by forest landowners. Oregon State Forester Doug Decker is currently discussing the proposal with lawmakers and the other officials who will decide whether to purchase a policy this year.

“He’s talking with them because it is a major budgeting decision,” Nichols said.

For several decades, the state has used money from forest landowners and the general fund to purchase a policy from Lloyd’s, the London insurance market. Oregon is the only state in the nation to purchase a wildfire insurance policy. Severe wildfires in 2013 and 2014 caused the company to increase the cost of the policy this year.

Nichols said there is no hard deadline for the state to decide whether to purchase the policy, but state lawmakers must pass a budget by June 30.

This year, Lloyd’s said it would issue a policy with $25 million in coverage, which would kick in after the state spends at least $50 million on wildfire suppression. The premium would be $3.75 million. Last year, the state paid a premium of $2 million and received $25 million in coverage, after it had spent $20 million on firefighting.

Nichols said it could raise questions for some people that the state would consider an insurance policy with a deductible twice the amount of the coverage, but the state’s situation is different than many conventional purchasers such as an individual who buys homeowners insurance. That is because the state views the $50 million deductible as its spending budget for fire protection. Nichols said that during severe fire seasons, the insurance policy is a buffer that prevents firefighting costs from eating into the state general fund and taking money away from other programs.

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