Alfalfa, Ore. — The Alfalfa Fire District was not among the agencies selected for Oregon’s 2026 wildfire season staffing grants, with state officials confirming the decision was tied to ongoing inquiries by multiple state agencies into the district.
The Oregon State Fire Marshal announced the latest round of staffing awards this week, part of a statewide effort to bolster wildfire preparedness and response capacity. The program distributes millions of dollars annually to fire agencies across Oregon to support seasonal staffing during peak fire months.
The program is designed primarily for smaller and rural agencies, allowing departments to hire seasonal staff or increase on-duty coverage during wildfire season. State officials say the funding has historically added hundreds of firefighters across Oregon and helped keep fires smaller and more manageable.
Other local central Oregon agencies received the grant, including Crooked River Ranch Fire & Rescue, Cloverdale Rural Fire Protection District, Jefferson Co Fire & EMS, Jefferson Rural Fire Protection District, Lake Chinook Fire And Rescue and Warm Springs Fire & Safety. All but Cloverdale had also received the grant awards in 2025, along with the Alfalfa Fire Distric had had received in over the last several years.
“I can say without hesitation this grant had a direct and immediate impact on our ability to respond to the Alder Springs and Flat fires in 2025,” Fire Chief Sean Hartley with Crooked River Ranch Fire and Rescue said. “The additional personnel funded by the grant meant we had more firefighters available when these large incidents occurred. This support strengthened our operational readiness when it mattered most.”
But while dozens of departments received funding under the 2026 program, the Alfalfa Fire District was excluded.
In a statement sent to the Prineville Review, the Oregon State Fire Marshal’s Office (OSFM) said the district was denied funding due to “multiple open and ongoing state inquiries involving the district.”
The agency later clarified that those inquiries are being conducted by other state entities, not OSFM itself.
“This decision not to fund the district for the 2026 grant is based on other state agency inquiries involving the district,” OSFM Public Affairs Director Kassie Keller wrote in a May 1st email. “At this time, our agency does not have a formal inquiry with Alfalfa Fire District.”
The statement leaves unresolved which agencies—beyond a previously reported investigation by the Oregon Secretary of State—are currently investigating the district, and what specific issues prompted the denial.
On Monday, officials with the Oregon Secretary of State also directly confirmed that the agency is actively investigating the Alfalfa Fire District, following earlier disclosures by the Crook and Deschutes County clerks that such a review was underway. Connor Radnovich, a communications specialist with the Secretary of State’s Office, confirmed the investigation in a statement to the Prineville Review.
“I can confirm that there is an ongoing investigation,” Radnovich said, adding that no further details could be provided due to the active nature of the investigation at this time.
The funding decision follows months of questions from the Prineville Review regarding the district’s prior use of wildfire staffing grants and related financial reporting.
In an April 14th email to OSFM officials, the publication raised questions seeking answers about discrepancies in reported staffing hours, the classification and compensation of the district’s fire chief, and the use of grant funds in connection with the chief’s spouse. Additional questions focused on the apparent lack of board authorization for certain uses of grant funding by the chief and whether reporting patterns—such as grant balances consistently nearing zero—were typical across agencies.
The Prineville Review also asked whether any changes had been made to the district’s grant status after the chief’s spouse reportedly resigned from a paid position shortly after inquiries began.
Records indicated that LaVallee’s wife was the single employee being covered under a 3-year capacity funding grant, which started in 2023. Records also showed that she and her husband were additionally compensated for overtime hours using the separate wildfire staffing grant, and their reported hours were identical.
In past years, records showed that LaVallee was also using wildfire staffing grant funds to increase his base salary with the fire district, but none of those decisions were made by or received any oversight by the elected board, at least not during public meetings as would have been required, raising several questions under Oregon’s ethics laws for LaVallee related to the use of office.
OSFM did not directly answer those questions. Instead, its responses centered on the existence of outside investigations and the resulting funding decision, without addressing the underlying questions raised about grant oversight or compliance.
Despite citing multiple state-level inquiries, OSFM confirmed it has not opened its own formal investigation into the Alfalfa Fire District.
The Alfalfa Fire District has faced increasing scrutiny in recent months over a range of issues, including the latest tied to the alleged election law violations, financial management questions, and transparency disputes.
Among the other issues was the illegal 2025 taxation of property owners in Juniper Acres after LaVallee improperly handled a process that officials said should have been received handling and assistance by the district’s legal counsel, including filings with the Oregon Department of Revenue, before the annexation was even taken to county commissioners or a public vote.
Mr. Alderman is an investigative journalist specializing in government transparency, non-profit accountability, consumer protection, and is a subject matter expert on Oregon’s public records and meetings laws. As a former U.S. Army Military Police Officer, he brings a disciplined investigative approach to his reporting that has frequently exposed ethics violations, financial mismanagement, and transparency failures by public officials and agencies.
