By Marcy Stamper
Gov. Jay Inslee has appealed the denial of a major disaster declaration that would help individuals affected by the summer’s wildfires. The appeal was submitted Tuesday (Sept. 9).
If approved, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) program would allow people affected by the fire to apply for grants up to $34,000 to help with uninsured housing losses, special unemployment benefits and mental health counseling.
In the appeal, state and federal emergency staff incorporated additional information about the extent of the damage in Okanogan County, according to Hank Cramer, executive director of Methow Valley Long-Term Recovery, who also assisted with the initial damage assessments in his previous role as a disaster reservist with the state’s Emergency Management Division.
Since the initial application, the teams were able to visit more sites where houses were destroyed by the fire. In the appeal, the governor said 353 residential properties had been affected by the fires, up from 244 counted in the initial request. They also have gathered more-accurate estimates of the number of losses not covered by insurance, said Cramer.
“Okanogan County faced a significant housing shortage even before the fires,” said Inslee in the appeal. “We have hundreds of families and individuals whose homes were destroyed or damaged who want to stay in their communities, and who want to maintain their job or business…. Immediate temporary housing assistance is necessary to ensure both an emotional and economic recovery—assistance that state programs are unable to support.”
The appeal, a draft of which was reviewed by Cramer and other local fire-recovery organizations, includes accounts from interviews with survivors of the fire and with social-service providers. These stories help convey the extent of the practical and emotional impacts of the disaster, said Cramer.
Although the state had considered including damage from last month’s mudslides in the appeal, in the end they did not incorporate the slides, said Cramer. While there is little question that the severity of the mudslides was connected to the loss of vegetation and soil damage from the wildfires, FEMA tends to approach disasters as distinct incidents, said Cramer.
The appeal will be submitted to the regional FEMA office and ultimately to President Obama.
