Washington—Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala D. Harris (both D-Calif.) Thursday called on President Trump to declare the Southern California wildfires a major disaster and make federal assistance available to wildfire victims.
“We strongly support Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s request for a Major Disaster declaration for the State of California in response to the severe wildfires that have swept through Southern California this month,” the senators wrote. “We urge you to approve the Governor’s request to make federal assistance available under Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and other programs.”
The full text of the letter follows:
December 21, 2017
The Honorable Donald J. Trump
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President:
We strongly support Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr.’s request for a Major Disaster declaration for the State of California in response to the severe wildfires that have swept through Southern California this month. We urge you to approve the Governor’s request to make federal assistance available under Section 401 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act and other programs.
This year’s wildfire season in California has been nothing short of catastrophic. Over 1.2 million acres have burned in the state this year. In October, wildfires destroyed thousands of homes and killed 44 people in Northern California. Since the beginning of December, six large wildfires have burned nearly 300,000 acres in Southern California. Driven by high temperatures, strong and unpredictable winds, low humidity, and dry brush, the wildfires have forced more than 200,000 residents to evacuate their homes, burned over 1,000 structures, and have tragically claimed the lives of one civilian and one firefighter. One of these fires, the Thomas Fire, is now the second largest wildfire in state history and continues to threaten communities in Southern California.
Additionally, five other large fires have burned across Los Angeles, Ventura, Santa Barbara, and San Diego counties. These fires led to evacuations, road closures, destruction of residences, and terrible air quality hazards. Put simply, this has been the worst wildfire season in recent memory and one of the worst in California history.
We appreciate your approval of earlier requests to provide federal assistance, and we ask that you again approve this request for disaster aid. We support Governor Brown’s request and strongly urge you to declare a major disaster. Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
Kamala D. Harris
United States Senator
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8 Comments
I thought he already did. News said it last week.
Ahhh, Californian liberals enc, the Gov, have disrespected this president, lied about him, are trying to impeach him, mocked him, voted against him, don’t want a wall, harbor illegals and now after wasting millions, they want billions!?
Calif has been a major disaster area since the idiots let Jerry Brown back in Sacramento.
It’s already a disaster with them and Brown in charge!
Wow, something the all agree on?
So the feds need to pay for fires that at least one was started by a homeless person and one sounded like it started by a power line by the DWP….unless these were started by mother nature those who caused them should be responsible…And if it was a homeless person that’s the fault of the city county and or state ….stop spending our $$ on Brown’s crazy train and legal fees for illegal criminals and welfare for illegals th th the state should be able to afford to pay for these disasters..
Feinstein and harris are idiots like jerry brown.
We want sanctuary cities & to not follow laws but we want government financial help ? I’m Not for sanctuary Crap !! ??