January 9, 2025
President Biden met with senior administration officials to talk about how the federal government can assist the state of California to tackle the horrendous series of wildfires ripping through the Los Angeles area.
And now – FEMA has opened up disaster assistance to those in California who have been displaced, impacted or have lost everything. I’m going to tell you all about how you can apply in just a second.
But first – President Biden said he not only immediately approved the major disaster declaration for California – he also increased the percentage the federal government would kick in to help the state.
On top of that, the president said the government has added 400 additional federal firefighters. 30 firefighting helicopters and planes. Eight C130s equipped to suppress wildfires. 500 wildfire clearing personnel from Dept. of Defense and he said he worked with Canada to bring down additional firefighting aircraft from our neighbors to the north. The FEMA director is on the ground in Los Angeles as we speak and just a short time ago – FEMA released a guide of what types of FEMA assistance you may be entitled to, how you go about applying for it and how you can get that “immediate needs” cash assistance. To apply you can go to disaster assistance.gov or you call the FEMA helpline at 800-621-3362.
As I told you during the disasters on the east coast when hurricanes Milton and Helene ripped through multiple states last year and during the Maui wildfire in 2023– FEMA’s immediate cash assistance is a few hundred dollars. It’s meant to help you get food and baby formula and your prescriptions. But that is definitely not all money you’re entitled to. There are multiple FEMA assistance programs that will help you jumpstart rebuilding your home or your business or recover lost property. But it’s extremely important for you to understand that FEMA is not going to make you whole. FEMA is there to help you get back on your feet.
That means your personal insurance for your home, business or property will also have pitch in. But Vice President Harris – who of course is from California and was also at the briefing today said for many victims of this fire that’s just not possible.
Now – California isn’t the only state dealing with that problem with insurance companies bailing on people – florida has to deal with it too so fixing the issue is going to have to be a joint effort between the states and maybe even the federal government.
But what I can tell you is – during the last budget negotiation last month – congress did approve about 100 billion dollars in supplemental funding for FEMA’s critical federal disaster programs including almost 30 billion for FEMA’s disaster relief fund. They have money to help you. Now that money needs to be spread out over all the disasters from the past few years, this disaster and the disasters to come. And that gets expensive. Because these fires in California are ripping through some of the most expensive real estate in the country — some estimate the cost of fighting these fires and helping the victims recover is going to exceed $20 billion.
Read more from FEMA here.
More on the Presidential briefing here.
