FEMA is out but some Erskine Fire victims could still get housing

July 29--Erskine Fire victims won't receive full FEMA aid.

That ship has sailed.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency denied the state's request for a federal disaster declaration last week. And the state said Thursday it will not appeal that denial.

But some of those displaced by the deadly fire may get a FEMA-owned mobile housing units that were brought to California for last year's Valley and Butte fires, according to the California Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES).

The 71 units have never been used and range from one, to two and three bedrooms in size.

Cal OES is hoping to get the trailers on the ground in the Kern River Valley within the next four to six weeks.

FEMA left them in California in case flooding in the Valley and Butte fire burn areas displaced more people.

"Winter was over and they hadn't been needed so FEMA was going to move them back east where they're stored for the nation," said Nancy Ward, Chief Deputy Director at Cal OES. "Then the Erskine Fire started and we asked FEMA to hold on to them."

Cal OES began negotiating to have the feds give the trailers to the state as excess equipment. When he heard about the trailers, House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield, pushed hard to get them to the Kern River Valley, too.

As that process is ongoing, Cal OES is also talking with Kern County officials to figure out which agency should take charge of the units once they're released by the feds.

Should Kern create a program to get the units to displaced people? Or should that be a state task, Ward said.

Once those issues are ironed out, it will be a matter of prioritizing which victims get the units.

"That will likely be those households that didn't have insurance, don't have the ability to repay an SBA low-interest loan or any other means to shelter themselves."

And they would also have to be property owners.

The idea is once the state clears a person's property of debris, it would simply move one of these mobile units onto that property.

"Unlike the FEMA program where people can only use the units for a certain amount of time, we're wanting to let people have them," Ward said.

That may be a relief for a number of people.

But, Ward agreed, the trailers won't help renters.

Help for those folks will likely come from a coordinated, long-term effort led by the county using volunteer agencies.

In fact, many volunteer groups have banded together as "All For One," which is already working to match individual households with the right group or agency to meet that household's specific needs.

The key to that effort, according to the All For One web page, is communication and networking.

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