WASHINGTON — Today, Representatives Lou Correa (D-CA) and Young Kim (R-CA) sent a letter to Nancy Ward, Director of the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal EOS), demanding retroactive grant support for Orange County in the wake of last year’s Airport Fire. In the immediate wake of the fire, the County’s Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) request submitted was denied—and has since had significant consequences for local residents and emergency response capabilities.
Despite the fire’s aggressive behavior, widespread evacuations, and the threat to residential structures, the FMAG request was placed “on hold.” The rationale cited—insufficient threat level and lack of residential impact—was inconsistent with the on-the-ground conditions reported by first responders.
“We are concerned that the denial of this FMAG request reflects a misjudgment of the situation’s urgency and impact,” Correa and Kim lambasted. “The Airport Fire posed a clear and present danger to life and property, and the County of Orange acted swiftly and in good faith to seek state support. It is important to note that Riverside County, which was also impacted by the Airport Fire, received their FMAG declaration on September 11 despite less structure loss than Orange County.”
The Orange County Fire Authority and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department continued to engage with Cal OES through multiple revised submissions, then through additional follow up. These efforts were met with either no response or continued denial, despite mounting evidence of the fire’s severity and the financial burden placed on local agencies.
“We respectfully request that Cal OES reconsider and approve the FMAG request retroactively,” they added, “acknowledging the critical need for federal assistance in mitigating the effects of this disaster and supporting our local emergency services.”
You can read the full text of the letter HERE.
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ABOUT LOU: Congressman Lou Correa is a longtime Orange County resident, with deep local roots. To this day, he lives only three miles from his childhood neighborhood in Anaheim. He is the son of working-class parents whose hard work gave him a chance at success, and has spent his career fighting to protect the American Dream, and ensure anyone can reach the middle class, just as he did. In 2016, Lou was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives to continue his work by representing the community he has spent the past 20 years serving, fighting to give everyone access to the same opportunity he had. Congressman Correa is committed to working across party lines to strengthen the middle class and give everyone a shot at the American Dream by investing in education, healthcare, and our fading infrastructure, and has introduced legislation to protect the legal rights of immigrants, care for veterans, and fight against the wasteful spending of taxpayer money.