TALENT, Or.- Talent’s city manager wants the Federal Emergency Management Agency (or FEMA) to make more money available to victims of the Almeda fire.
FEMA categorized the Almeda fire as a Category B disaster. That makes certain money available to local and state governments for assistance.
What category a disaster is given determines how much assistance and funding goes to the hazardous clean-up of an area- an expensive and dangerous process.
Talent city manager Sandra Spelliscy says the assistance we’re getting isn’t sufficient enough to help with recovery efforts.
“Our area, our state simply cant deal with the magnitude of this disaster on our own, so we are really looking to the federal government to get us the support that we need.”
According to FEMA, Category B disasters only qualify for emergency protective measures, not debris removal.
Spelliscy says the “B” ranking was likely decided before the full extent of the damage was revealed.
FEMA says Oregon requested an “expedited declaration” of Category B but it could become Category A down the line.
To date, just under 9-million dollars have been approved for individual assistance through FEMA.
This article has been updated to clarify where FEMA’s Category B assistance goes.
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