The head of the governor’s Office of Emergency Services has told Orange County officials that their application for a federal fire grant from FEMA for the Airport fire won’t be moving forward despite pleas from local lawmakers and public safety officials.
The federal grant would have provided public safety agencies and others in the county with tens of millions of dollars toward covering their costs during the fire. OCFA Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said the denial by Cal OES “really defies logic for us.”
“I believe it’s law enforcement that’s likely the big loser in all this,” Fennessy said. “We can’t figure out for the life of us why it was denied, and clearly we met all the requirements and criteria to have (the grant) accepted.”
Fennessy said the grant would provide millions to the Orange County Sheriff’s Department, which staffed the emergency operations center during the fire, and personnel at other agencies like OCFA, Irvine Police and more that had costs from the fire.
U.S. Reps. Lou Correa, (D-Santa Ana) and Young Kim, R-Anaheim Hills, sent a June 3 letter to Cal OES Director Nancy Ward advocating for the county and questioning the agency’s decision to not approve the Fire Management Assistance Grant request for the 2024 Airport fire, noting that Riverside County immediately received support.
“We are concerned that the denial of this FMAG request reflects a misjudgment of the situation’s urgency and impact,” they wrote. “The Airport fire posed a clear and present danger to life and property, and the County of Orange acted swiftly and in good faith to seek state support. It is important to note that Riverside County, which was also impacted by the Airport fire, received their FMAG declaration on Sept. 11, despite less structure loss than Orange County.”
The grants provide agencies with federal funding for fighting fires that threaten “such destruction as would constitute a major disaster.”
The county has received the grant several times. In recent years, the grant was approved for the Canyon Fire 2, Blue Ridge fire, Silverado fire, Bond fire and Coastal fire. Fennessy, who serves as chair for the California Fire Chiefs Association and also the FIRESCOPE Board of Directors, said he’s never run into pushback like this for getting the grant in his career.
The Airport fire broke out on Sept. 9 in Trabuco Canyon, burning 23,000 acres in Orange and Riverside counties. The fire destroyed 160 structures, which includes homes, sheds, cars and such, and damaged another 34 in the two counties, according to CalFire. Twenty-one people were injured and thousands evacuated from their homes during the fire.
A spokesperson for the county said the assistance grants could have provided nearly $77 million to agencies in OC, though she stressed the figure was an approximate total since Cal OES ultimately did not submit the request to FEMA, making it impossible to know with certainty how much the county could have recouped.
The Correa-Kim letter says OCFA officials submitted a grant request to Cal OES Deputy Chief Carlos Camarena three hours after the fire started. Cal OES over an hour later put the request on hold, according to the lawmakers.
“The rationale cited — insufficient threat level and lack of residential impact — was inconsistent with the on-the-ground conditions reported by first responders,” they wrote.
In one denial letter, Cal OES said the Airport fire had “exceeded the 50% containment threshold” one day after the fire started in OC.
“To be clear, on September 10, 2024, the Airport Fire was at 0% containment and did not reach 50% until September 20, 2024, meaning your assertion is off by 10 full days,” Fennessy wrote in a reply letter in April.
OCFA and the Orange County Sheriff’s Department submitted revisions, but those were delayed or denied. At one point during the process, Fennessy told Ward in an email that, “Our frustration with your letter is matched only by our surprise at the inaccuracies therein,” and detailed the OCFA’s view on why the county qualified and what Cal OES got wrong.
When asked for comment, Cal OES provided a June 4 letter sent to Fennessy and Sheriff Don Barnes.
Ward wrote in the letter that the initial Sept. 9 request establishing that the fire was burning uncontrollably at the time “did not establish that the Airport fire was threatening destruction that would constitute a major disaster, which is required.”
Despite details later provided by officials, Ward wrote that the fire still did not meet FEMA requirements for assistance.
“Unfortunately, despite having conversations with Cal OES staff during the day on Sept. 10th, Orange County took over 24 hours to submit its subsequent request,” Ward wrote. “While this request established the necessary criteria to support an FMAG request for Riverside County, it did not do so for Orange County. During that 24-hour period, Orange County’s conditions had changed …the eminent threat had significantly diminished in Orange County.”
By then, the fire had moved out of the Robinson Ranch area and into Riverside County, “threatening a significant number of densely populated areas.”
FEMA officials contacted by Cal OES concurred that the county’s request did not meet the criteria for funding, Ward wrote.
Fennessy said he wants Cal OES to own up to its mistake for issuing the early denials, even if getting the grant isn’t possible at this point. OCFA and the sheriff’s department have filed public records requests with Cal OES to understand more about the denial and is considering litigation if the issue isn’t resolved, Fennessy said.