Cali Wildfire Victims Ask: Where's FEMA?

Agency Hasn't Kept Promises For Housing And Assistance, Homeowners Say

(AP)  Patty Reedy is still waiting for someone at the Federal Emergency Management Agency to send her the mobile home she was promised before Christmas.

In December, agency inspectors said she wouldn't get a government house to replace the one she lost during last year's wildfires because it would be too difficult to haul the 60-foot, three-bedroom prefabricated home up a winding road to her remote mountaintop property.

Reedy isn't alone. FEMA brought dozens of mobile homes to Southern California after the fires, only to find their own guidelines prevented them from putting them on many properties in rough terrain. San Diego County officials say dozens of applicants were denied homes because their properties were inaccessible to trucks, didn't have connections into the electrical grid or were on hillsides deemed at mudslide risk.

"They don't have any familiarity with these areas so they can't conceive of the needs being different," said Deena Raver, a contractor who was hired by San Diego County to help fire victims. "You're talking about one area with sewage and water and other places that are very rural."

The mobile home delay is another blemish on a beleaguered agency.

When the fires broke out in five Southern California counties, forcing half a million people to flee, many thought FEMA - still bruised from its performance after Hurricane Katrina - had a golden opportunity to repair its image.

But the fires blackened about 800 square miles and destroyed nearly 2,200 homes, a fraction of the 90,000 square miles and roughly 500,000 homes ravaged by the hurricane, and left roads, power lines and sewage systems largely intact.

"FEMA wasn't really tested here," said Paul Light, a professor of public service at New York University. "It really wasn't a dry run for sustained response and recovery."

FEMA spokesman James McIntyre said the agency applied lessons it learned in Katrina to streamline its operations in Southern California - like the need to respond quickly. Two days before President Bush declared a federal disaster, FEMA crews were moving into fire-stricken zones and setting up at San Diego's Qualcomm Stadium.

Within a week, the agency had begun disbursing grants up to $28,800, short-circuiting detailed accounting requirements that slowed relief after the 2003 fires. So far, FEMA has paid more than $13.1 million to 1,973 people, mostly in San Diego County.

But the agency has only distributed 33 mobile homes in the county, including 14 on American Indian reservation land.

In 2003, the agency sent short, adaptable "travel trailers" to house people living in the mountains, but they are being avoided now amid concerns about toxic chemicals; this week the agency said it would move hurricane victims out of more than 35,000 trailers because tests indicate some of the temporary homes contain high levels of formaldehyde.

Instead, FEMA only dispatched three-bedroom modular homes to Southern California - luxurious compared to the 15-foot travel trailers, but, at 60 feet, too long to fit on many properties or be moved up steep roads full of switchbacks. They also require too much electricity to run off generators or solar panels and have to be hooked into the power grid. They have to be on flat land, away from any hills that might be at risk for mudslides.

Grace Yim, a FEMA branch manager in Pasadena, said she didn't know how many eligible fire victims were denied homes.

"We met a lot of challenges with the kind of unit that was available to us - there are canyon areas, mountainous areas so we had a lot of sites that came back infeasible, and then there's just nothing we can do," Yim said.

People who were unable to put the large trailers on their properties were referred to other agencies, mainly Housing and Urban Development, for subsidized apartments, Yim said.

But living far away from isolated lots can slow reconstruction for people who are cash-strapped to begin with, said Bonnie Frede, director of a nonprofit-funded fire recovery center in the mountain town of Ramona, about 35 miles northeast of San Diego.

"These people want to be on their land," Frede said.

Reedy, a lithe 51-year-old, said she already put more than 7,000 miles on her pickup truck driving up and down the mountain, costing her $2,000 in gas out of her $28,800 grant. She had hoped to get the mobile home on her land and eventually use the grant money to buy it.

She said she will keep trying to get the promised FEMA home on her property.

"I ran into my first FEMA inspector at the grocery store, and he said, 'You pay your taxes, so don't let them tell you no,"' she said. "As long as I know what I'm working towards, I can start to plan, but right now it's just sitting in the bank while I waste gas."

[michellem99-2009]

3 days 3 ways ye on yer own. Wa State 3 days 3 ways have a plan, They have a site, NG would be there if Bush would leave them here. Hope people can help ye.

[fredcs25]

With the current record of FEMA it''s time to retire this incoherent and incompetent agency to the trash bin.

[ov442]

Theres always an excuse for why FEMA leaves citizens with unfilled assistance and left homeless with no options.

Last i heard, they were all vacationing in hawaii at a resort for employees and their families all paid for on the tax dollar.

[keithle1]

FEMA...what a joke. They haven''t got a clue. You might as well pray to God to help you when a disaster happens. "Emergency Management"...as if. Too bad FEMA isn''t run like the Coast Guard.

[jowand]

Called the Missouri faultline, it is said that an earthquake with just a 7.3 to 8.4 magnitude, could be enough to destroy the delicate continental shelf and indeed plunge most of the east coast into the Ocean. The largest problem is there is no safe place and due to weather shifts, no area where drought, tornadoes or earthquakes and fires can be guaranteed not to occur. IN addition, people do not get to command their own destiny--they go where the jobs are. If that is a coastal city or CA, they will live there--whereever the companies hire and send them. Also, many insurance companies renege on what they said they would cover after a disaster, so buying coverage is not the answer. Insurance companies do not want the loss, so they cancel all policies or deny claims and try to move out.
Posted by b-easy63 at 09:26 AM : Feb 18, 2008

Most powerful earthquake EVER recorded in the US took place in 1812 at New Madrid Missourri, by the way the east coast is still with us

[jowand]

The fact is--Bush is a lousy mgr and so are his cronies--most were awarded jobs due to loyalty not skill--it is never good to hire friends when actual results must be expected. Bush failed in every business he ever owned (as he is failing in managing America) from who he chooses to run things to his assessment on situations--the man bats a zero.
Posted by b-easy63 at 09:36 AM : Feb 18, 2008

Fact is it took FEMA three weeks to show up after hurricane Floyd hit N Caroline in the 1990s. They said the water was too deep for them to move in.
Fact is you haven''t got over the fact that Dems have been out of the Whitehouse for 8 years, deal with it.

[b-easy63]

Like others have said--Bush was a man born on 3rd base--who thought he hit a triple. The man is an incompetent--naturally his friends are the same--cream is not the only thing that rises to the top. Remember the Peter principle.

[b-easy63]

tulcak,
You ought to go look at the Gulf Coast. There has been a gigantic recovery there. Taxpayer''''s did a lot of it. Private sector did a lot. But most of it was done by private sector using taxpayer money. But really taxpayer money should be reserved for roads bridges, levees, police, military and other infrastructure. Privately owned residences should be handled by individuals and their private insurers.
People should live in closer communities and use more public transportation. Don''''t build on the side of a mountain and complain about transportation costs or below sea level and complain when the levee breaks.

Posted by runningralph at 07:59 AM : Feb 18, 2008


Louisiana (ie New Orleans) is part of the Gulf Coast. It is not faring well. This is not the first Hurricane or disaster NO has experienced, this is just the one, under inept Republican rule--that does not seem to go well. Under Clinton, there were many tornadoes, floods and disasters (the huge Mississippi River floods of 1993, that encompassed almost 7 states, Hurricane Andrew, etc) The fact is--Bush is a lousy mgr and so are his cronies--most were awarded jobs due to loyalty not skill--it is never good to hire friends when actual results must be expected. Bush failed in every business he ever owned (as he is failing in managing America) from who he chooses to run things to his assessment on situations--the man bats a zero.

[b-easy63]

So here is the deal--trees and brush can be removed and most people in CA are under ordinances to NOT have any trees or certain types of brush on their land--but in a hyper/super fire situation, it does not matter--the momentum of the fire will simply jump from home to home and this type of fire can happen ANYWHERE which is why last year--it was happening in Florida, Georgia and SC or do you suggest we have no trees? See how long you live without them there to take up all the CO2 and leave you Oxygen to breathe. The government''s actual function is to assist states with any event larger than the state''s resources--that is what states pay taxes to the government for. Until Bush, FEMA appeared to adequately handle disasters as large earthquakes, hurricanes etc have been damaging parts of America for centuries. Only under Bush does all go to hell in a handbasket. This IS an indictment of Bush--if for no other reason, than a mgr IS responsible for choosing incompetent people --as it is a measure of his own acumen and lack of discernment. Bush is a devious but mediocre and not too bright person. He surrounds himself with like personalities.

[b-easy63]

Most Disasters on a magnitude to destory hundreds of homes are not something that can be planned for. In the case of fires, the actual fires that destroy homes actually start several hundred or even thousands of miles away. Many of the homes destroyed are suburbs and have about as many trees as your home does (1 or 2 or none) what they do have is congested building. When a fire has enough fuel and has been burning long enough, or is large enough --it creates its own oxygen tunnel At that point a hyper situation is created in which the fire rushes at astonishing speeds carried by the wind and burning so hot that things are vaporized without even ever getting near the flames. If you don''t live in CA, then this could happen if you live say in Kansas City and a fire somehow makes its way from Denver or Oklahoma City up to you. Often several fires join together to create these amazing wind tunnels and it does not matter WHERE you live--fires need 2 things to burn--Oxygen and fuel. Buildings or trees can provide the fuel but both are not needed --the only necessary thing besides ANY fuel source is Oxygen and time to get large enough ---- Bet that is everywhere you live. If a fire is strong enough and big enough, it keeps its own supply of Oxygen almost like a fire tornado--at that point it is almost impossible for firemen to put out such a fire as long as houses or any fuel source is there. next post