(The Center Square) – Attorney General Ellen Rosenblum is one of 10 attorneys general who sent a letter to the Federal Emergency Management Agency, hoping the agency will update its regulations to recognize extreme heat and wildfire smoke events as major disaster declarations under the Stafford Act.
The letter also wants FEMA to clarify that wildfire smoke events make communities eligible for Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) funding, according to a press release from Rosenblum’s office.
The politicians addressed their letter to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell and Chief Counsel Adrian Sevier. In it, they cite climate change as a reason for increasingly common and severe extreme heat and wildfire smoke events. They also contend that these events pose serious public and financial health risks to local communities that require federal assistance to respond effectively.
“The climate change science is clear and overwhelming: our planet is getting hotter, wildfire seasons are getting longer and more destructive, and the resulting wildfire smoke is a real danger to public health,” Rosenblum said in the release. “We need the federal government to keep up with the realities Oregonians face, and we need FEMA to have the jurisdiction to assist when we ask for help. I stand with my co-signers on this letter in urging FEMA to move quickly and amend its definition of ‘major disaster’ to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke events.”
The letter looked at the impacts of recent wildfire smoke and extreme heat events. Such examples included the 2021 Pacific Northwest Heat Dome — causing hundreds of deaths and widespread power outages — plus Canadian wildfires that blanketed the East Coast and Midwest in smoke.
“The attorneys general underscored the importance of proactive measures and federal support in mitigating the effects of these disasters,” the release said.
The politicians told FEMA to amend its “major disaster” definition to include extreme heat and wildfire smoke events.
The letter also calls for Fire Management Assistance Grant funding to address the negative impacts of wildfire smoke. The politicians want this addressed by having FMAG provide HEPA air filtration devices and “other necessary supplies to vulnerable populations,” the release said.
Plus, the letter said that such events will likely happen more in the future, making adequate FEMA response even more vital.
A spokesman for Rosenblum’s office told The Center Square that emergency heat declarations are the governor’s purview, meaning the office lacked figures as to what it thinks is appropriate for an emergency heat declaration. The governor’s office did not respond to the request for comment.
The other states signing the letter include California, Arizona, Colorado. Connecticut, Illinois, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, New Mexico, Oregon and Vermont.
