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The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse California for costs associated with hiring more firefighters and controlling the wildfires that have ravaged Southern California.
News of the fire management assistance grants came Tuesday, and in the evening the White House released a statement from President Biden confirming the move. FEMA confirmed the measures on Wednesday, in an announcement outlining some details about the subsidies.
The funding will provide federal reimbursements of up to 75% of “eligible firefighting costs” incurred by the state, such as California is looking to bolster its firefighting force and put out wildfires that have killed at least two people and driven thousands from their homes. Eligible costs include expenses for field camps, equipment, materials, supplies, and mobilization or demobilization efforts attributable to firefighting.
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The FEMA logo next to an image of a California firefighter battling a wildfire in the southern part of the state. (AP/Getty)
“My administration will do everything possible to support the response,” Biden said Tuesday, announcing news of the grant. “I am frequently briefed on the wildfires west of Los Angeles. My team and I are in contact with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Fire Palisades”.
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California’s firefighter shortage has been an ongoing problem for several years in California. Before the news about the FEMA grant, the Los Angeles Fire Department was forced to ask all off-duty firefighters in the area to volunteer to help. The US Forest Service increased its staffing levels in California this summer for the first time in five years, but the total number of federal wildland firefighters remains far below what it once was, even as the state has seen an increase in the number and severity of forest fires in recent years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
Firefighters in California are battling a blaze that began Tuesday morning and has continued into Wednesday with no signs it will be under control any time soon as thousands of people evacuate.
Meanwhile, in October, the US Forest Service announced the end of prescribed burning to control wildfires as a result of staff shortages.
California’s decision to end prescribed burns followed Biden’s opposition to a bipartisan bill aimed at streamlining the implementation process. forest management projects, like prescribed burns, in California. In a September statement outlining opposition to the bill, the Biden administration said certain provisions served to undermine crucial environmental protections.
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Forest Service firefighters conduct a prescribed burn on the grounds of the High Desert Museum near Bend, Oregon. The prescribed burn is part of a massive effort across the wild West to prepare for a wildfire season that follows the worst on record.
FEMA grants to bolster the state’s firefighting force amid intense wildfires were initiated after requests from the state of California. FEMA indicated that at the time of the requests the wildfires had burned more than 700 acres of private and public lands around the Pacific Palisades, San Fernando Valley and Santa Calrita Valley areas.
FEMA added that more than 45,000 homes in the area were being threatened by the ongoing fire.
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An agency spokesperson told Fox News Digital that its regional office is in constant contact with local authorities in California and that the agency has also deployed a FEMA liaison officer to the area to help control the ‘evolution of the situation. The spokesman added that the agency is urging residents to listen to local officials and has provided a phone number for them to text if people need a safe shelter.
