(InEDC) BY Congressman Kevin Kiley Published: 08/28/23 7:47 PM PST
President Biden promised to help hundreds of my constituents who lost their homes in the devastating Caldor Fire. “We’re going to take care of them,” he said.
Two years later, that promise remains broken. Many of the victims are seniors and in poverty. A number are now living in RVs or tents. Here’s what a few said:
Mary Lower: “They turned their back on us. Biden flew over where the fire was but he never authorized FEMA. We didn’t get chainsaws, or water, we got nothing. . . Where the hell are you? Where were you?There’s no reason why we didn’t get FEMA, other than politics. There’s no way you’re gonna lose 600 homes to the ground and say it wasn’t a big enough fire.”
Jennifer McKim Hibbard: “Our lives have been hell and have been full of frustration and grief and anger. It feels like we have been forgotten. We didn’t get that FEMA Individual Assistance. We have been struggling as a community to really rebuild ourselves. . . [and] a lot of us will not be going home because there are no resources to help us go home. It’s the worst-case scenario.”
Melissa White: “Everything’s just so hard. I think about it and tear up half the time. I don’t know how long we can live up here like this. We have no home. It’s hard to have something you worked for so long to be taken away, and to have to live in an RV because you can’t afford rent around here. It’s either food or a house.”
Representative Kevin Kiley (R-CA) has offered to meet President Biden for a tour of Grizzly Flats, CA while the President vacations at Tom Steyer’s nearby 4,000 square-foot, $18 million dollar mansion.
This comes after Kiley’s letter to the President last week, insisting he fulfill his promise of aid to Grizzly Flats residents who lost their homes in the 2021 Caldor Fire. Nancy Ward, Director of the Office of Emergency Services and an appointee of Governor Gavin Newsom, supported Kiley’s request to the President for individual assistance.
“The President broke his promise to the people of Grizzly Flats,” Rep. Kiley said. “The least he could do is take a little time during his vacation to see for himself the consequences of that broken promise. Victims of the fire continue to struggle, some living in RVs and trailers.”
After surveying damage with Governor Newsom shortly after the fire, President Biden pledged “we’re going to take care of them…there’s a lot we can do, and it starts off being a federal responsibility, in my view.” Yet the President and his Administration have repeatedly denied individual assistance. Last week, Representative Kiley sent a letter to the President calling on him to finally fulfill his promise to the people of Grizzly Flats.
