Almeda Fire recovery process predicted to cost $1 billion
CENTRAL POINT, Ore. — Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Pete Gaynor along with state, tribal and local officials visited Southern Oregon to see firsthand the devastating damage of the Almeda Fire and predicted the recovery cost to be $1 billion.
Congressman Peter Defazio said the state will owe 25% of these costs to FEMA, which the state does not have in its budget. Defazio said a bill passed out of the house stated the 25% would go down to 10% or potentially zero, at the discretion of the FEMA President.
"The state doesn't have $250 million. If we can get down to 100 million or even better, zero, we will all do better," Defazio said.
Congressman Greg Walden said at this point, FEMA has no funding shortfall.
"FEMA is fully funded, there's 30 something billion already sitting there in accounts for disasters," Walden said.
As far as deciding what the state will owe, Gaynor said it comes down to the President of FEMA based on various factors of the damage.
"The authorities are there for the President (of FEMA) to weigh the support to get to clear 100% federal funding for some of this cleanup and all," Walden said.
Gaynor said cost is not the concern right now though.
"The real job is to get that debris cleaned up, get a running start on housing solutions, things that are important. The money we will sort out at the end," Gaynor said.
MORE STORIES ABOUT WILDFIRES IN SOUTHERN OREGON NORTHERN CALIFORNIA HERE
Senator Ron Wyden said the local, state and federal governments are pulling out all the stops to deliver help right now.
"We want them (fire victims) to know this is not something you're supposed to wait around for a year for. We're zeroed in on it right now and I'm planning on coming back here again and again," Wyden said.
Senator Jeff Berkley asked FEMA to assistant victims with a "road map", so they have a better idea of what steps are being taken and how long each step will take.
"I realize that these things take time, but time is kind of our enemy here so we just want to work with FEMA to keep accelerating the process," Berkley said.
As for housing, Berkely suggested the Jackson County Expo Center stay open for trailers and provide victims with toilets and showers.
"If there's some kind of inner solution that can help people stay near their community, this is partially important here because of the lack of hotel rooms and apartments to rent," Berkely said.
Oregon Department of Management Andrew Phelps said all the steps in the recovery process from housing to debris clean up involves a partnership between governments and the community.
"We hear a lot that we're from the government and we're here to help. I want to flip that just a little bit as we look at that disaster and the recovering process and say we're from the government and we're here to partner," Phelps said.
Emergency Manager for the Cow Creek Band Umpqua Tribe Indians Tracey Depew said this opportunity for a few of the tribes in Oregon to talk with FEMA is rare.
"All of us were able to kind of share some of our observations," Depew said. "It's just nice to see that cross-government, small government to big government collaboration,"
Gaynor said communication is key when it comes to disaster in order to speed up the recovery process. Slowly but surely, the community will get better day by day.
ARTICLES ON AVAILABLE FIRE RESOURCES
"It's never fast enough, recovery is never fast enough for the survivors, it's not fast enough for me, it's not fast enough for my state and local partners and I understand that. But we must work together to kind of solve some of these problems that we see out there," Gaynor said.
In order to get disaster assistance to disaster survivors, Gaynor said to contact 1 (800) 621 - 3362. To register for FEMA for disaster assistance, click here.