Officials continue to press FEMA for wildfire help

Phil Drake
Great Falls Tribune

Montana officials continue to press the Federal Emergency Management Agency to get funds to help fight wildfires, despite an earlier rejection.

And more officials on the federal level said they are getting involved.

On Sunday, the same day that Bullock declared a fire state of emergency in Montana, FEMA Region VIII in Denver rejected the state's request for a fire management grant that would let the state recover 75 percent of its costs to suppress the four fires that have burned almost 400 square miles and destroyed at least 16 homes in eastern Montana.

The state Department of Natural Resources and Conservation filed a letter of appeal to FEMA on Monday, the governor’s staff said. And Gov. Steve Bullock spoke with FEMA Administrator Brock Long on Tuesday who said he would personally review the appeal.
Sen. Jon Tester, D-Mont., made a similar request earlier and followed up with a call Wednesday, his staff said.

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A FEMA Region VIII spokesman said Wednesday that the agency has 90 days to review the state appeal and offered an explanation about the process.

Jerry DeFelice said the general standard was that the fire at the time the request is made must be threatening to create a major disaster. He said the decisions are made as events are unfolding and maybe not all the information is available.

“Fires are fast moving and a decision is made in real time,” he said.

Tester said FEMA needs to provide critical resources to the region “as these fires ravage our communities” and demanded FEMA reconsider its decision.

And that ratcheted up on Wednesday when Republican Sen. Steve Daines and GOP Rep. Greg Gianforte also asked Long to reconsider. They also requested copies of the original request and denial.

Tester said the grant helps provide equipment and supplies, evacuations and shelter, federal and out-of-state resources, and mitigation, management, mobilization and demobilization funds.

Gianforte visited the fire site earlier and said he asked Long to reconsider, given the magnitude of the catastrophe.

He said Long had made himself available on short notice Wednesday and said they needed more information from the governor’s office. Gianforte said Long told them the decision to deny the request was made at a lower level and he did not know why it was not approved.

“You would think an application would be straight forward,” Gianforte said. “We don’t understand why it was denied either.”

Daines said he wants to review the paperwork and see what he can do to help.
DeFelice said the appeal would include more information to strengthen the previous request.

He said size alone is not a determinant, adding that it goes back to what the fire is threatening to do, will it damage a watershed or critical infrastructure?

DeFelice said Fire Management Assistance Grants such as the one requested by Montana pay for certain costs such as fire camps, equipment, sheltering and any state-associated costs. He said legislation outlines what FEMA must do to declare a major disaster.

Gianforte said while at the Lodgepole Complex he asked Incident Commander Rick Connell and others if they had the resources they needed. Gianforte said he was told that responders were still mobilizing.

“My concern is whether there is good coordination between federal agencies and local authorities and he assured me they were working in concert,” he said. 

Authorities say they have contained 34 percent of the four fires, which are being treated as one complex. That is up from the 20 percent containment the day before.
More than 600 firefighters are battling the fires, which were started July 19 from lightning.

Firefighters are battling other grass and forest fires in Montana, including in Beaverhead, Deer Lodge, Helena and Lewis and Clark national forests.

Brock Long, FEMA administrator

This Associated Press contributed to this story.