Oregon Fire Marshal Temporarily Approves Self-Service Gas for the Entire State

The move comes a week after station owners sought a waiver from the long-standing law prohibiting the practice.

Southeast Division Street on March 22, 2020. (Aaron Wessling)
By Nigel Jaquiss

The Oregon State Fire Marshal's Office today temporarily suspended the prohibition on self-service gas in most of Oregon. (It was already legal in counties with populations of under 40,000.)

"During this unprecedented time of state emergency, we need to ensure that critical supply lines for fuels and other basic services remain uninterrupted," said State Fire Marshal Jim Walker in a statement.

Walker's order, which was first reported by Salem Reporter, is in effect until April 11.

It comes in response to a plea, first reported by WW, from the Oregon Fuels Association to Gov. Kate Brown, to lift the prohibition because some pump attendants were ill and some feared coming to work at a job that puts them in contact with many members of the public each shift.

United Food and Commercial Workers Local 555, which represents some attendants, opposed the change, saying station owners were using the COVID-19 outbreak to accomplish a long-held goal: making self-service gasoline legal statewide.

Related: Gas Station Owners Want Gov. Kate Brown to OK Self-Service Gas. Organized Labor Does Not.

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