 Good morning. My name is Clefetson. I'm Calaveras County Board of Supervisors chair and I want to thank everybody for coming here to respond to the fire that our county's been experiencing for the past two weeks. I have many people and agencies to Thank first of all, I'd like to thank our community for stepping up and taking care of each other We've had a wonderful response from the agencies in the area including Cal fire FEMA is now here because of the of the declaration signed by the president PG&E has done a phenomenal job. They've been here less than a week, and I think they've replaced like 850 poles OES is here Cal OES SBA to help us out help our folks out Local fire. I've seen our local fire folks working with Cal fire in their in their base camp our local CHP Thank you very much. We guys had the tough job along with our Sheriff's Department who did the evacuations and I think around 46 other Sheriff's Agencies from everywhere in the state. We certainly appreciate that Local Churches and charities have stepped up big time To take care of our victims. This this fire actually happened in the poorest impoverished section of our county and so it was It was definitely a challenge So I'm gonna make this short and sweet and I'd like to introduce Mark go to do chief the director of Cal OES Thank you again for helping us out in our little county in this emergency. Thank you Thanks, Supervisor Mark Larducci the director of California OES Let me start off by saying Really are our continued thoughts and prayers are with Caliverse County and The individuals who have been impacted by these fires and and who have suffered losses We deal with disasters throughout California and each one of these is personal to us. We are we in California our partners and our with all of our counties our state and When we approach these as you saw With the response to the fire we do it in a collaborative and collective way Bringing together Cities and counties and state assets. It doesn't really matter it's one team one fight and That that goes on through the recovery process We all feel the the impacts and we are very very sensitive to making sure that the county And the people of the county get back on their feet as soon as possible I want to tell you all that it's These events are not linear They they are complex This one in particular Is complex and it's in its scope And and so it will take time It will take patience and it will take effort on the part of everyone To be able to get the county back to where it once was but we want to our goal Our objective is to work with the county and the people of the county to build back stronger and better For the future. This is a fire prone community And we want to make sure that for the future Future fires. There's as much mitigation efforts put in place to reduce future impacts of of fires we know that we've had quite a quite a summer of fires and throughout California and We don't believe that that that kind of thing is going to be slowing anytime soon So we want to work with with everyone to make sure that that we build back stronger and better early on the governor proclaimed a state of emergency and Allocated all state directed all state agencies to respond And we continue to do that. He also Provided funding through the California disaster assistance act and early on had a great conversation with the president About the impacts of the fires and then shortly after made an official request to the president for a federal disaster declaration day before yesterday that declaration was was approved and Today we sit here In front of you federal emergency management agency is on the ground They have actually been very much involved with us since the inception of the fire early on because of the magnitude and the severity of the fire FEMA actually provided a fire management assistance grant to the state of California early on to be able to help provide resources to offset the suppression cost of all the fire assets and Emergency managers and law enforcement that were responding to the immediate needs of the fire They are now here through the federal designation to help us with the overall Recovery process and most importantly to help individuals Recover and help them get through the next Several months until we can get their houses Rebuilt in addition to FEMA the small business administration has joined in under that declaration and also is here to help provide Loans and assistance to not only individuals but to businesses who have suffered losses and we'll hear a little bit about that here in a minute lastly, I want to acknowledge the Red Cross Red Cross has been Working on this incident from the beginning They're here for the long run as well and will continue to provide assistance as necessary Through the duration of the recovery so with that let me Let me turn it over to Tim Scranton Tim is the federal coordinating officer appointed by the president For this disaster to be the federal lead on coordinating federal Disaster recovery operations and he'll go through some of the programs that are available Tim. Thank you Well, good morning everyone and if I if I may first on behalf of the federal family extend our condolences to the family and friends that Have lost one loved ones here in this event and also to those that are affected You know, I could see the emotion in the supervisor's face here And and I just can't imagine what it's like for those of you to try and live through this horrendous event You know, I my past life I was a firefighter for over 30 years and all I ever wanted to do is help people and now I get to do that at The federal level and so I bring that with me with the authorities and the policies that FEMA has to offer And I'd like to go over some of those that we're going to be able to extend to to the survivors of this event One of the things that you know as this fire began and we move people into tents and temporary sheltering, you know That's a progression. We need to get them out of those tents into more permanent type Apartments or hotel rooms or whatever but also longer term strategies. So we're going to be working With you to provide that rental assistance and some assistance also to replace some of your personal properties We have some transitional sheltering for immediate help And also we're looking at all sorts of options as we look at the geography and topography of this particular event Maybe even modular type units if that's what's going to be the most appropriate to fit your needs We have what's called case management because we know that this is going to be a long-term recovery for those survivors that have been affected as we talked about going from hotels to apartments to longer term types of Living, you know, we want to be able to partner with you to help you with that long-term strategy because this is not going to be quick Also, we're going to provide counts of crisis counseling one of the things that we need to remember in these types of Devastating events is when your home burns up all of your memories are gone your pictures and your videos of the kids and and all Of that is is no longer in existence So we want to be there to help you through these very difficult times And also we can provide legal services to to assist you and and also as we talk about the whole community I know Brad and some others will probably mention this Let's not forget those with access and functional needs if there's people out there that have Specific needs we want to go out to them and provide them the same level of assistance that we're providing everybody in this event So how do we do this? We need your help We need you to please register at one eight hundred six two one three three six two So one eight hundred six two one FEMA or you can go to a disaster assistance dot gov Or if you're having any type of social event or there's a faith-based organizations that are having services or any type of Collaborative event that we can go to we will bring people to that event and register them right there on the spot We have iPads we will do that for you But we need to get the message out that we want to get you into our system so that we can start providing those services that that we have to give you so With that again, please spread the word. It's not about us. It's about helping those that have gone through this this horrible Incident and we want to provide you the best possible service that we can thank you I'm sorry. Yes, we have what's called disaster assistance teams that are currently on both this the lake fire and the beautifier that are out Canvassing the area running into the survivors registering them on the spot We also have Individual or a staff at the local assistance centers where we can register you And we're also setting up what we're calling area field offices in Lake and Calaveras County where we're going to have our staff out here to be with you to partner with you so that the Local officials and the individuals can actually go and we can we can reach out to you with that Personal touch to make sure that we provide you the best possible service that we can Thank you. Good morning. Ken Pimalot the chief of Cal fire and I just want to emphasize a couple of key points that both director Geller Ducci and supervisor Edson made Firefighting and emergency response in California is a unified effort No different on this fire and the hundreds of fires around California every year or every week During the peak of the summer. Are there hundreds of local government fire departments federal firefighting agencies the Forest Service and Cal fire Responding to these together and it was no different here. We've been mobilizing resources all summer to make that firefight happen I want to thank all those fire departments and our partners out there Firefights not over. I think you've heard that plain and clear California's largest and most damaging fires have occurred in the fall months that we're just entering right now and we have got to stay Vigilant and something that's key and we've heard it if we talk about it Our partners talk about it. We've got to focus as communities on evacuation planning and heating evacuation orders and making sure we're getting everybody out I don't need to tell amador and calaveras counties how this fire spread you Lived it these fires this summer are spreading at critical rates All we have time to do in the beginning is help get Individuals and members and community members out of the way and out of the path of these fires So everything that we can do As a community and as residents and communicating with each other to heat evacuation warnings and to have our plans in place Ahead of time because Cal fires are going to occur again We've got months ahead of us under these critical conditions and we want to make sure that we've done everything to help everybody Prepare so thank you Good morning. I'm Brad Kaiserman. I'm from the American Red Cross As horrible as these fires have been and they have been horrible What is amazing to me and for a moment? I'd like to focus on is the is the resilience of this community The power of this community saw the passion and supervisor Edson's Remarks to you today. This community is going to come back. This community is going to be resilient What you are going to find in the ashes of this fire is hope What I learned from the FEMA administrator Craig Fugate because a few months ago I used to wear a FEMA shirt like this guy What I learned from the FEMA administrator is this and you heard Tim Scranton mentioned earlier It takes a whole community. It takes the whole community to make a community whole That's what it's going to take to bring it back again It's going to take all of the agencies all levels of government But it's also going to take the people of the community volunteers faith-based groups nonprofits Red Cross is humbled and and we're pleased that we can be here to help And work with our partners There are so many nonprofits and faith-based organizations that are here to help and more will come to help And we're humbled to be a part of that today and in the past week We will continue to make sure that we are conducting feeding in the community that we're providing shelter for those who need shelter that we're providing some direct financial assistance in the immediate aftermath of these horrific fires as a Transition or a bridge until FEMA or other agencies folks have registered with them and they can obtain other assistance But we will be in your community because we are your community and we'll be with you because You are you are hope and so we will work with you I really appreciate being here today as sorry as I am for your loss, and I am very sorry It's horrific, but I am absolutely amazed by what I have seen from this community and its leadership. Thank you very much So Do I haven't anybody'd like to ask questions? None. No, they covered it pretty good. Well, we have we've had an amazing outpour of Support from actually all over and We actually had to rent to warehouses for you know the clothing and the water and all of that that have come We have a lot of folks up here that are Renters a lot of elderly folks that are that had to make a decision between buying insurance and food so we have a lot of folks that don't have insurance that were burned out and We have a couple of chair account set up for that and What we really need is to for people to help bolster those accounts One of them is the Calaveras County Community Foundation and One is the common ground senior services and there are a bunch more including Red Cross But Those are the ones I think that are going to go to help provide funding directly to some of these folks these these seniors that live up here Many of them were kind of trapped in the area because they you know You get to a certain age and you can't move out and you want to you can't can't do anything else and we had a bunch of them So we want to take care of those folks if we can yes, sir So every year the the maximum allowable grant is adjusted by Congress this year It happens to be set at thirty two thousand nine hundred dollars But each individual case is different and so I want everybody to understand that you need to register with FEMA Through the one eight hundred number disaster assistance gov or or via live with our personnel Let's get them into the system. Let's review their particular Financial situation and we will we will go from there But you know, I do have to be upfront with you and very candid that that is the maximum Allowable amount those that is offered through our particular program, but don't forget as Brad and others have mentioned We are a whole community on this So maybe you can take funds from FEMA and have some some faith-based organizations or volunteer Organizations help you rebuild your home and provide free labor and use your money for the construction costs What have you but let's not focus and fixate on a particular dollar amount because there's other opportunities from other Organizations that can help you in this rebuilding process Right so procedurally, I think we need to understand that We encourage everyone to go through their insurance first So that they can see what is eligible through their particular policy and then what's not covered under their insurance that's when we start applying our policies and Adjust accordingly to see what each individual then would be eligible for We can then also refer them to the small business association, which is here today They can get low interest Loans in order to help with the rebuilding process and and sometimes and I also want people to also understand And I would encourage them to to register with SBA because if they don't meet those qualifications Then it comes back to us for those that are really in in difficult situations that we might be able to provide even Additional monies to them. So it's a it's a it's a rather complex and Individual process so for me to give you an average I don't think would be fair or appropriate, but I can't tell you what the congressional limit is and that's 32,900 I'm Michael Flores. I'm a public information officer with small business administration As my counterparts have said this has been a devastating life-changing event You know today we stand here, and we're not here to talk at you, but we're here to speak with you And help people through the process now the small business administration We realize that this is Devastating Definitely definitely devastating. We provide up to $200,000 for homeowners We've provided assistance to renters up to 40,000 and up to 2 million for businesses to begin to recover And that's what this is about. This is a community Tighten it community event So we encourage people to spread the word to talk amongst yourself and know everything that's out there that is available Now with the SBA if you're insured We will help you to cover what you may not be insured for if you do not have insurance We can still assist you, but the key is don't stand in your own way, and I'll say that one more time Don't stand in your own way Seek the assistance that's available You can reach the SBA at 1-800-659-2955 And we'll be here until the end. We'll do everything in our power to assist people Thank you