FEMA Funds Authorized For Again Fire 

Release Date: June 29, 2002
Release Number: HQ-02-095c

Denver, CO -- The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) approved funds Saturday to help pay for fighting the Again fire in North Dakota.

"This is the first time this year North Dakota has had to appeal to us for help with a wildfire," said FEMA Director Joe M. Allbaugh. "It pains me to hear of the damage on the Standing Rock reservation and in Grant County. I want people there to know that the Bush administration will continue to be there, supporting our state and local partners in this summer of fire, as long as it takes."

The Again fire is the first time this year that North Dakota has requested assistance for wildfires, and the seventeenth firefight to receive FEMA aid this year in the six-state region served through FEMA's Denver office. It was also the second fire in the region to be approved for assistance on Saturday, along with the Grizzly Gulch fire in South Dakota. (The six states are Colorado, Utah, Wyoming, Montana, North Dakota and South Dakota.)

FEMA's Fire Management Assistance Grants help provide resources for suppressing fires by paying 75 percent of eligible state and local costs associated with the firefight. FEMA works through the state, which coordinates the flow of funds to eligible local agencies.

Federal fire management assistance is made available by FEMA to manage, mitigate and control fires that threaten to cause a major disaster. The assistance covers eligible state firefighting costs, including expenses for field camps; equipment use, repair and replacement; tools, materials and supplies; and mobilization and demobilization activities.

FEMA fire management assistance in Denver's Region 8 has been authorized in Colorado this year for the Snaking fire April 23; the Cuerna Verde fire, May 1; the Black Mountain fire, May 5; the Schoonover fire, May 23; the Iron Mountain fire, June 2; the Trinidad Complex fire, June 3; the Ute Pass fire June 7; the Coal Seam fire, June 8; the Hayman fire, June 9; the Dierich fire, June 10; the Missionary Ridge fire, June 11; the Million fire, June 19; the Wiley Ridge fire, June 23, and the Valley fire, June 25. It has also been authorized for the Hensel fire in Wyoming, June 18; the Grizzly Gulch fire in South Dakota, June 29, and now the Again fire in Sioux and Grant counties, North Dakota.

Last Modified: Thursday, 28-Aug-2003 12:39:51