JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Firefighters in California are still battling a patchwork of blazes throughout Los Angeles. These fires have destroyed entire neighborhoods, and tens of thousands have been ordered to evacuate. As officials in the state navigate this horrific scene, many are wondering how the federal government will step in to help. For more on that, we're joined by Lori Moore-Merrell. She's the fire administrator for FEMA and is in California. Welcome to ALL THINGS CONSIDERED.
LORI MOORE-MERRELL: Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you so much for having me and for focusing on this topic.
SUMMERS: Thanks for being here. I just want to start by having you briefly describe for us what you've seen there on the ground in California.
MOORE-MERRELL: Absolutely. I am joined this afternoon by the FEMA administrator. We are literally just getting a brief on the Palisades fire, and there are multiple fires burning here. They are disparate, so they are some distance from each other but all large nonetheless. The Palisades area looks, as you might imagine, like a war zone. The fire has moved quickly. There was heavy fuel loads here, not just vegetative fuel but also the structures. And once the structures were ignited with the wind speeds that we had, this was, unfortunately, the perfect firestorm. And so the fire has moved very quickly. It's destroyed thousands of structures. We're still getting an accurate count there. But it is a devastating event for this community.
SUMMERS: Right. I mean, the people who are impacted by these fires - and there are so many - they obviously have some immediate needs. Here in the short term, what is FEMA doing to help people today who are without homes, without power, without their businesses?
MOORE-MERRELL: So given that we have a - President Biden has awarded a major declaration or a presidential disaster declaration, that opens up a lot of resources, primarily individual assistance that will help them jump-start their recovery. That can be everything from temporary housing to just survival resources. And so we'd like people to go to disaster.gov to find those and apply for those resources.
There are some immediate funds that are available for immediate needs; that is, life safety needs - food, water, shelter - but then make application for longer-term recovery under individual assistance. And so, given that this has happened so quickly and we got a major declaration so quickly from the president, that has really expedited individuals' opportunity to get relief.
SUMMERS: I wonder - you talked about the fact that, you know, we're dealing with this patchwork of fires. It's not just one fire, and it's hitting in different places. I wonder - that presents a challenge in response for the city of Los Angeles to be able to respond all at once. How does that make you think about this disaster differently?
MOORE-MERRELL: You know, all disasters are unique. And in this one, it was an immediate combination of LA city and LA County because of the way that the fires ignited and they are so disparate. Well, they had already prepositioned many resources, and so they were able to get on the ground really quickly. CAL FIRE was engaged almost immediately. We have resources that have been requested from nearby states in the West that are on their way here and many already arriving. Nevada Task Force 1 is already here. And so we have a lot of these resources that were brought to bear.
The issue is - and their response is as effective as it could be with the resources they have, and they are the best here on the West Coast at fighting these kinds of fires. This fire, however, was orders of magnitude beyond some they've seen in the past because of the fuel load that I mentioned, because of the close proximity of the structures, because of all of the things that are combustible. So it's not just the structures. You have to think about what's around them. Is it wood fences? Is it sheds? How about the vegetation? How many trees? Are those trees dry? We know they are from the drought that's been here.
SUMMERS: Right.
MOORE-MERRELL: And so what is the actual fuel load? You enter wind into that, and then we are, as we say, off to the races.
SUMMERS: Absolutely.
MOORE-MERRELL: We have what is more known as a wildfire or conflagration, where we had structure-to-structure horizontal fire spread, and no firefighting regiment's going to get in front of that.
SUMMERS: Yeah.
MOORE-MERRELL: And so they moved to life safety. They moved to rescue, and they stay on suppression and protecting the perimeter from spreading as best as possible.
SUMMERS: Let me jump in here because we've got about a minute left. I think a number of us remember that deadly Camp Fire that swept across Paradise, California, about seven years ago that killed nearly a hundred people, destroyed thousands of structures. I wonder, as you're thinking about what a timeline for recovery might look like, are there lessons you take away from that fire about how long it might take to make people whole?
MOORE-MERRELL: You know, this is going to be a long-term event. The devastation that is here is monumental. It is - you know, spans a great number of communities. And so we really want people to start early. Go to disasterassistance.gov, or call 1-800-621-3362. Make your application early. Stay with the process, and be prepared to move forward. We have to build back in a place that it...
SUMMERS: Got it.
MOORE-MERRELL: ...Where it's going to be fire-prone. We want them to build back with fire resistance. Use the code. Understand defensible space. And in the moment, however, continue to listen to local authorities, and follow the instruction that you're given by fire techs in the area.
SUMMERS: FEMA Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell. Thank you so much.
MOORE-MERRELL: Thank you very much.
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