The Latest: FEMA distributes $20M after California wildfire

PARADISE, Calif. (AP) — The Latest on California wildfires (all times local):

1:30 p.m.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency has distributed more than $20 million in assistance for people displaced by California's deadliest wildfire.

FEMA spokesman Frank Mansell said Monday that $15.5 million has been spent on housing assistance, including vouchers for hotel rooms. He says the disaster response is in an early phase but many people will eventually get longer-term housing in trailers or apartments.

FEMA has also distributed $5 million to help with other needs including funeral expenses.

About 17,000 people have registered with the federal disaster agency, which will look at insurance coverage, assets and a variety of other factors to determine how much assistance they are eligible for.

The blaze that ignited Nov. 8 destroyed more than 13,000 homes and killed at least 85 people.

Officials said the blaze was fully contained Sunday.

11:45 a.m.

Survivors of a monstrous 2017 wildfire have erected a twinkling 12-foot Noble fir in another Northern California town also ruined by wildfire.

The Mercury News of San Jose reports the head of a Santa Rosa, California neighborhood association drove up to Paradise on Thanksgiving with a donated tree and decorations.

Ronnie Duvall says it was good to show the rest of the world that people can come together when disasters strike. The tree has white lights, purple and gold ornaments and a star.

The small town of Paradise was leveled in the Camp Fire that started Nov. 8 in the Sierra Nevada foothills. It killed at least 85 people.

Santa Rosa's Coffey Park neighborhood was decimated in one of several wildfires that sparked in wine country last year.

Information from: San Jose (Calif.) Mercury News, http://www.mercurynews.com