SACRAMENTO – Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. today announced that the White House has approved California’s request for direct aid to individuals and families in Orange and Nevada counties who have suffered losses due to the fires. The Governor earlier this week announced the same assistance for residents of Napa and Sonoma counties and Butte, Lake, Mendocino and Yuba counties.
Survivors who primarily reside in these eight counties can apply online for federal Individual Disaster Assistance at www.DisasterAssistance.gov or by phone at 800-621-3362 or (TTY) 800-462-7585. Applicants who use 711 or Video Relay Service may call 800-621-3362. The toll-free numbers are open 7 a.m. to 10 p.m. seven days a week.
More information on the federal Individual Disaster Assistance program is available here. In addition to the individual assistance for families, California has also secured public assistance for the counties of Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Solano, Sonoma and Yuba to help those jurisdictions remove debris and take other emergency protective measures.
Yesterday, Governor Brown and U.S. Senators Dianne Feinstein and Kamala Harris traveled to areas impacted by this week’s fires to meet with local leaders and emergency management officials and join a community meeting in Santa Rosa. Earlier this week, Governor Brown secured a Presidential Major Disaster Declaration to support the state and local response to the fires, within 24 hours of making the request, and joined the state’s top emergency management officials for a briefing at the State Operations Center in Mather.
The additional federal assistance announced for the eight counties is the result of California securing amendments to this presidential disaster declaration. The Governor has declared a state of emergency for Solano County, Napa, Sonoma and Yuba counties, and Butte, Lake, Mendocino, Nevada and Orange counties due to the effects of the devastating fires burning across California.
More information about California’s emergency response to the fires is available on the Governor’s Office of Emergency Services website.