MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
There are red flag fire warnings in southern California today in some of the communities that burned in wildfires last year. And this comes as a FEMA lifeline for wildfire survivors could run out of money by the end of the month. NPR's Kirk Siegler reports.
KIRK SIEGLER, BYLINE: Almost two years since the Eaton Fire and homes are finally being rebuilt on Sofia Vidal's (ph) hilly street in Altadena.
SOFIA VIDAL: I saw all of these houses burn right before my eyes. It's good to see everything rebuilt. Unfortunately, at this time, I'm not one of them. But I'm hoping to get there soon.
SIEGLER: It's been one setback after another for Vidal - insurance, finding a competent architect, inflation making everything more expensive. One rock through all this has been her disaster case manager, who's lately been connecting her to legal help because a neighbor rebuilt too close to her collapsing retaining wall.
VIDAL: It's nice to have somebody hold my hand along the way as far as what could be done or maybe help us find some grants, some financing to make sure that we don't run out of money in the middle.
SIEGLER: Through FEMA grants, states assign personal case managers to victims like Vidal after huge disasters. Now hundreds of survivors, including Vidal, are stuck in construction purgatory. That's because the feds have yet to deliver all of their promised aid. Antonio Manning chairs the Eaton Fire Collaborative Long-Term Recovery Group. It's a disaster aid network supporting victims.
ANTONIO MANNING: We're asking the federal government to stand up and be accountable and responsible and at least be accountable and responsible for what you said you were going to do.
SIEGLER: After weeks of uncertainty, FEMA has now said it will reimburse California for about 13 million for the Disaster Case Management program. But that's still 6 million less than what the state has said it needs to keep it going. Manning, who also is waiting to rebuild, says the program may be small in the big picture of the daunting recovery across LA, but it's been a lifeline for a lot of people.
MANNING: There's no amount that is too small in terms of being able to assist someone.
SIEGLER: In a statement, FEMA told NPR the Trump administration is continuing to support fire survivors in California. And to date, the agency says it's helped some 3,000 people through its Disaster Case Management program. MaryAnn Tierney was FEMA's acting deputy director until last year. She says this fight may be less about politics and more about the bureaucratic problems with the program itself.
MARYANN TIERNEY: I imagine some of the frustration is the amount of time it took to get the program turned on and spun up.
SIEGLER: It takes states a long time to apply for FEMA grants, then find a state agency to run it effectively, then determine who qualifies.
TIERNEY: And now, with the period of performance for this program typically being 24 months, it's in its wind-down phase. But there are still survivors that likely need assistance.
SIEGLER: Tierney left FEMA last year after President Trump started saying the agency should be dismantled. The Trump administration has since said it wants to shift the financial burden of disaster recovery to states. Kathleen Tierney, no relation to the former FEMA official, is a disaster recovery expert at the University of Colorado. She says it's not realistic to expect states to absorb all the technical expertise of FEMA, an agency itself that's in turmoil.
KATHLEEN TIERNEY: You have people from FEMA being laid off, taking early retirement, being reassigned to ICE. There's churn in the top leadership. There's churn in DHS leadership.
SIEGLER: The Trump administration says it has sent about 6 billion in total aid to LA fire victims so far. But that's less than half of what California Governor Gavin Newsom has requested. Whether the delay in rebuilding is due to politics or red tape, in Altadena, Sofia Vidal feels caught in the middle.
VIDAL: Sometimes we talk with friends or distant relatives. And they're saying, oh, you guys have been receiving a lot of help. And we're like, we have not received any help. All the fire aid, someone's receiving it. As a survivor, I can tell you it has not been us.
SIEGLER: This was her home of 28 years. She had planned to retire here. Now she doesn't know when she'll rebuild.
Kirk Siegler, NPR News, Los Angeles. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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