FEMA to pay for more firefighters as California blazes burn beyond capacity

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) will reimburse California for costs associated with hiring more firefighters and controlling the raging wildfires that have ripped through Southern California. 

News of the Fire Management Assistance Grants trickled in Tuesday, and by the evening the White House put out a statement from President Biden confirming the move. FEMA confirmed the measures on Wednesday, in an announcement laying out some details about the grants. 

The funding will provide federal reimbursements for up to 75% of “eligible firefighting costs” incurred by the state, as California seeks to shore up its firefighting force and put out the 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 attributed to fighting the fires. 

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FEMA’s logo alongside an image of a California firefighter battling the raging wildfire hitting the southern part of the state.  (AP/Getty)

“My Administration will do everything it can to support the response,” Biden said Tuesday, announcing news of the grant. “I am being frequently briefed on the wildfires in west Los Angeles. My team and I are in touch with state and local officials, and I have offered any federal assistance that is needed to help suppress the terrible Pacific Palisades fire.”

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Firefighter shortages in California have been an ongoing problem for several years in California. In advance of the news about FEMA’s grant, the Los Angeles Fire Department was compelled to request that all off-duty firefighters in the area volunteer to help. The U.S. Forest Service this summer boosted its staffing levels in California for the first time in five years, but the total number of federal wildland firefighters remains greatly diminished from what it used to be despite the state seeing an uptick in the number and severity of wildfires in recent years, according to the San Francisco Chronicle. 

Firefighters in California battle the blaze that began Tuesday morning and has continued into Wednesday with little sign it will be under control soon as thousands evacuate.

Meanwhile, in October, the U.S. Forest Service announced an end to prescribed burning to control wildfires as a result of staffing shortages.  

California’s decision to end prescribed burns came after Biden’s opposition to a bipartisan bill aimed at streamlining the process for implementing forest management projects, like prescribed burns, in California. In a September statement explaining the opposition to the bill, the Biden administration said that certain provisions served to undermine crucial environmental protections.

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Forest Service firefighters carry out a prescribed burn on the grounds of the High Desert Museum, near Bend, Oregon.

FEMA’s grants aimed at bolstering the state’s firefighting force amid the raging wildfires were initiated following requests from California. FEMA indicated that at the time of the requests the wildfires had burned an excess of 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 fire. 

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A spokesperson for the agency 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 monitor the evolving situation. The spokesperson added the agency is urging residents to listen to local officials and has provided a phone number for them to text if people are in need of safe shelter.