As thousands of residents in Spokane, Washington, begin to grapple with a long recovery after a destructive set of blazes that consumed hundreds of homes in the state’s second most populated city this month, victims of the Los Angeles firestorm broke a grim record – they have faced the longest delay in modern history for federal aid.
Nearly ۶۰۰ days since a historic firestorm roared into communities across Los Angeles, reducing more than ۱۶,۰۰۰ structures to ash and toxic debris, the Trump administration has failed to appropriate more than $۱۵bn in long-term recovery funds that are crucial to rebuilding. The delay in supplying the badly needed funds is months longer than the last record set when victims of the Maui fires had to wait ۵۰۰ days to receive the support, LAist noted this week.
Recoveries from large-scale disasters like these have long stretched across years. But there are concerns that lags or lapses in support from the federal role will add new challenges to already complex rebuilding efforts in devastated areas across the US. Donald Trump has repeatedly been accused of politicizing disasters, to the detriment of communities left in limbo.
“Spokane has joined a rapidly growing list of our communities that have been devastated by these climate-exaggerated fires,” Jay Inslee, the former Washington state governor said, adding that he had recently visited Altadena, one of the areas of Los Angeles decimated by the fires. It has just been absolutely ripped open and has not been able to recover yet,” he said. “Donald Trump has strangled these communities by refusing to give emergency assistance.”
Along with withholding funds, the president has also imposed “unlawful” conditions on states requesting federal grants for disaster response and preparedness, according to attorneys general from ۲۵ Democratic-led states that sued the administration in July.
The group, which was led by California’s Rob Bonta, claimed the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) have used a “campaign of coercion”, leveraging the needed disaster support in an attempt to force states to implement voting and immigration policies pushed by the president.
Trump has rejected disaster aid for Democratic-run states far more often than his predecessors, approving only ۲۳% of their requests compared with ۸۹% of requests from states largely represented by Republicans, Politico reported in March. The president also initially threatened to attach political conditions to federal aid he said would go to Los Angeles fire victims.
Meanwhile, recovery there has been painful and slow.
The fires, which erupted in the parched southern California hillsides and cascaded into the surrounding suburbs with shocking ferocity in January ۲۰۲۵, left behind unprecedented levels of destruction in the city and county of Los Angeles. Thirty-one people were killed directly by the disaster. Homes, businesses, churches and schools were leveled in the aftermath, with thousands more structures left uninhabitable or damaged from smoke and surrounding toxic debris.
“Eighteen months after the Eaton and Palisades fires, the challenges facing impacted communities continue to grow more urgent,” the Department of Angels, a non-profit founded to support recovery efforts in the immediate aftermath of the fire, wrote in its latest report, which noted that LA had experienced the longest wait for major disaster funding from the federal government in modern history.
With the second anniversary of the fires just months away, scores of Angelenos remain in limbo. Roughly two-thirds of survivors were still displaced as of late July, according to a report from the Department of Angels. In their sixth survey done with more than ۲,۰۰۰ fire victims, the group found that all forms of financial assistance had decreased in recent months, while homeowners typically face a roughly $۵۰۰,۰۰۰ gap in trying to rebuild.
Close to half of those affected had to take on debt to stay afloat and ۲۰% have had to delay rebuilding or repairs due to financial constraints. “Recovery has stalled while families wait for the federal resources that have long helped communities rebuild after disasters,” they wrote.
While it can take years for federal funds to be allocated in the aftermath of a complex disaster, the Trump administration has yet to begin the long process. State officials have accused the president of politicizing the disaster, which affected a county that largely votes Democratic.
“Donald Trump’s desire to punish Los Angeles and the state of California for not voting for him, means once again that thousands of Angelenos are left watching this administration fight for anything but them, their businesses, and their communities,” the California Democratic senators, Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff said in a joint statement issued in June, after the president’s $۸۷.۶bn budget request focused on military funding for the war in Iran omitted funds for disasters.
California’s governor, Gavin Newsom, has reportedly made several additional requests to Trump over the last ۱۸ months, urging immediate action to support victims of the fire. These requests had yet to be approved as of early August, according to the governor.
In March, the state issued an updated accounting of what’s needed from the federal government, which includes roughly $۱۰.۵bn in Community Development Block Grants to help with rebuilding both housing and infrastructure, $۱۷۹m in economic development administration business grants and $۳bn for public assistance projects meant to replace damaged or destroyed schools, senior centers, libraries and parks. The governor has also requested support to restore damaged water systems and improve affected streets and sidewalks.
Newsom called on Trump to make good on his pledge to provide the support while the president was visiting LA earlier this month. The trip, however, has come and gone.
Advocates and officials in Washington are also urging Trump to take urgent action to support the fire recovery just beginning there.
“There is a major effort to put pressure on this president to do his job, which is to help these families and communities – and he hasn’t done that,” Inslee said.
In ۲۰۲۰, while Inslee was governor, Trump neglected to issue a disaster declaration that would help victims in the rural town of Malden, Washington, after a fire destroyed roughly ۸۰% of the homes there, due to a political feud between the two politicians. The order came a year later, after Biden took office.
“We’re hoping that that does not happen again in the Spokane fires,” Inslee said. “We’re hoping that he will have an epiphany to understand what his job is, which is to help all Americans, no matter who they voted for.”
