House Engrossed

FEMA; wildfires; flooding; cost threshold

State of Arizona

House of Representatives

Fifty-fifth Legislature

Second Regular Session

2022

HOUSE CONCURRENT MEMORIAL 2006

A Concurrent Memorial

urging the administrator of the federal emergency management agency to include flooding costs resulting from wildfires in calculating the cumulative fire cost threshold.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

To the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency:

Your memorialist respectfully represents:

Whereas, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) is an agency of the United States Department of Homeland Security whose primary purpose is to coordinate the response to disasters that occur in the United States and that overwhelm the resources of local and state authorities; and

Whereas, the United States President can declare a major disaster for any fire or flood, regardless of the cause, that has caused damage of such severity that it is beyond the combined capabilities of state and local governments to respond; and

Whereas, the Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) Program is a disaster assistance grant program within FEMA that is available to states, territories and local and tribal governments for the mitigation, management and control of fires burning on publicly or privately owned forests or grasslands that are of such severity as to constitute a major disaster. Under this program, the state submits a request for assistance to the FEMA Regional Director, who reviews the request based on threat to lives and property, availability of state and local firefighting resources, high fire danger conditions and the potential for major economic impact. This review process is completed and a FEMA decision is rendered within a matter of hours; and

Whereas, under the FMAG Program, FEMA provides assistance in the form of grants for equipment, supplies and personnel costs; and

Whereas, large-scale wildfires dramatically alter the terrain and ground conditions of affected lands, creating conditions ripe for flash flooding and mudflow. The results of flooding can be devastating, even for areas that are not traditionally flood-prone, and the flood risk remains significantly higher in these areas until vegetation is restored, typically up to five years after a wildfire; and

Whereas, to be eligible for federal disaster relief funds, a state must demonstrate that it has met the cumulative fire cost threshold. Assistance under FMAG is provided only for the declared fire responsible for meeting or exceeding the cumulative fire cost threshold and any future declared fires for that calendar year. Any resultant flooding from the fire does not apply to the cumulative fire cost threshold and is not eligible for assistance under the FMAG program; and

Whereas, this failure to include the costs of flooding that directly results from wildfires in the cumulative fire cost threshold leaves many rural communities at a disadvantage since the costs from the fire combined with the costs from related flooding often do not cumulatively meet the required threshold for federal aid.

Wherefore your memorialist, the House of Representatives of the State of Arizona, the Senate concurring, prays:

1. That the Federal Emergency Management Agency amend its current system of calculating the cumulative fire cost threshold from wildfires to include the costs resulting from and directly related to flooding.

2. That the Secretary of State of the State of Arizona transmit copies of this Memorial to the Administrator of the Federal Emergency Management Agency.