[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 208 (Thursday, December 2, 2021)]
[House]
[Page H6862]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                KEEP YOUR PROMISE TO CALDOR FIRE VICTIMS

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
California (Mr. McClintock) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. McCLINTOCK. Mr. Speaker, the Caldor fire raged in the Sierra 
Nevada of California for 68 days last summer, consuming more than 
221,000 acres of forestland, making it the 15th largest and the 16th 
most destructive fire in the history of California.
  It literally wiped out the Gold Rush-era town of Grizzly Flats, and 
for days threatened the city of Lake Tahoe. It destroyed nearly 800 
homes, leaving hundreds of families homeless and destitute.
  On September 13, President Biden visited the scene. On that occasion, 
officials from El Dorado County and the California Governor's Office of 
Emergency Services apprised him of the need to assist these displaced 
families. He said, ``We're going to take care of them. There's a lot we 
can do, and it starts off being a Federal responsibility, in my view.''
  The President was absolutely correct in that assessment. The fire 
exploded in the El Dorado National Forest that was catastrophically 
overgrown due to Federal environmental laws that have made removal of 
excess timber all but impossible.
  According to local officials I have spoken with, the excessive use of 
backfires by the Forest Service also appears to have needlessly 
exacerbated the fire. This fire is indeed a Federal responsibility, and 
the Federal government owes to every one of the fire's victims the full 
resources available to get them back on their feet.
  And yet, despite multiple appeals, the Federal Emergency Management 
Agency has refused to approve individual assistance for the victims of 
the Caldor fire.
  The FEMA denial is a stunning double standard when compared with 
assistance granted in other fires that did far less damage. For 
example, the California Office of Emergency Services identified nine 
other individual assistance grants that FEMA approved in 2021 for fires 
that cumulatively destroyed fewer homes than those destroyed by the 
Caldor fire alone.
  Survivors hoping to rebuild their homes face an insurance deficit of 
$200,000 or more. Many survivors are uninsured, and nearly all of them 
are underinsured due to the severity of recent wildfire seasons. Some 
survivors who were able to remain on their properties still lack access 
to potable water.
  Moreover, residents of Grizzly Flats--the town completely wiped out 
by the fire--are disproportionately low-income, elderly, and 
socioeconomically vulnerable. Their homes and their belongings were all 
they had, and now they have nothing.
  Even those who did not lose their businesses to the fire lost many 
months of income as evacuations shut everything down. The regional 
economy will continue to suffer if survivors are not able to rebuild. 
Critical infrastructure has been either damaged or completely 
destroyed, including schools, fire stations, and the Grizzly Flats Post 
Office.
  While local officials, residents, and organizations are doing 
everything they can to provide support to one another and to rebuild, 
they will not be able to recover without the Federal assistance that 
they desperately need and deserve.
  Last year, FEMA denied the request for individual assistance for the 
Creek fire in Fresno and Madera counties. When I appealed to President 
Trump to correct this injustice, he immediately reversed FEMA's 
decision and granted individual assistance to these homeowners.
  President Biden made a solemn promise to the victims of the Caldor 
fire to help them rebuild. He personally saw the damage and heartbreak 
caused by the fire. He has the authority to reverse FEMA's denial and 
fulfill his promise. I have now written three letters to him drawing 
this to his attention and making this request. So far, I have not even 
received the courtesy of a response.
  ``We're going to take care of them, and there's a lot we can do.'' 
Those were the President's words spoken to these families in September. 
These families have now passed their first Thanksgiving without their 
homes and many without their livelihoods that were taken from them by 
this Federal fire. They are approaching a dismal Christmas, waiting and 
praying for the President to fulfill his promise.
  I appeal to the President to use his authority to keep his promise to 
the victims of the Caldor fire. As President Trump did for the victims 
of the Creek fire, I call upon him to reverse FEMA's outrageous 
decision and release the funds these families are depending upon to 
rebuild their lives and their communities.

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