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Biden Increases Federal Aid to California to Fight Fires

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Bloomberg 06:19 · 1202 Views

The US is "surging all federal resources possible to Southern California," President Joe Biden says during a news conference about the federal government's plans to help combat raging wildfires in the Los Angeles area.

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Transcript

  • 00:00 Today I'm announcing that the federal government will cover 100% of the
  • 00:04 cost for 180
  • 00:07 days.
  • 00:07 That's going to pay for things
  • 00:08 like debris and hazard, material
  • 00:11 removal, temporary
  • 00:13 shelters, first responders
  • 00:15 salaries, and all of necessary measures to protect life and
  • 00:19 property.
  • 00:19 And
  • 00:19 folks, I want to_I TOLD the governor and local officials spare, no expense
  • 00:24 to do what they need to do and contain these fires
  • 00:27 and in their communities that are really been devastating
  • 00:31 and.
  • 00:31 We're doing literally everything we can at a federal level
  • 00:35 that's.
  • 00:35 Also why I CALL this group of folks around this table
  • 00:39 of all relevant federal departments and agencies together to discuss what more we can do
  • 00:44 and some of the folks around the screen as well
  • 00:47 before.
  • 00:48 We begin things here's, an update on where things stand right now
  • 00:51 first.
  • 00:52 First.
  • 00:53 We're focused on helping contain these fires.
  • 00:56 Over the last 24 hours, the
  • 00:58 United States Forest Service,
  • 01:01 working with state and local responders,
  • 01:03 has suppressed over 50 fire starts.
  • 01:07 And the fire in the Hollywood Hills has been contained by brave firefighters risking their lives.
  • 01:12 Right now,
  • 01:14 three major fires are still burning
  • 01:16 in the Pacific Palisades
  • 01:18 in Pasadena
  • 01:19 and in Sylmar.
  • 01:21 I want to be clear
  • 01:23 what I know from talking to the governor that there are concerns out there
  • 01:27 that there's also been a water shortage.
  • 01:30 The fact is the utilities
  • 01:33 understandably shut off power
  • 01:35 because they're worried the lines that they're, they carried energy,
  • 01:40 we're going to be blown down
  • 01:41 and spark additional fires.
  • 01:44 But the Cal Fire,
  • 01:46 and when it did that, it cut off the ability to generate pumping the water.
  • 01:51 That's what caused the lack of water in these hydrants.
  • 01:54 And so
  • 01:55 Cal Fire is bringing in generators
  • 01:57 to get these pumps up and working again so that they're no longer a shortage of water coming out of these
  • 02:04 hydrants.
  • 02:06 I'm also
  • 02:07 surging all federal resources possible to Southern California,
  • 02:11 including
  • 02:12 four hundred additional federal firefighters
  • 02:15 over 30,
  • 02:17 over 30 firefighting helicopters and planes, federally supplied
  • 02:22 firefighting planes
  • 02:23 and helicopters,
  • 02:25 and eight Department of Defense C one 30s
  • 02:29 that are equipped to suppress wildfires.
  • 02:32 Today,
  • 02:33 the Secretary of Defense also authorized
  • 02:36 500 wildfire ground clearing personnel from the Defense Department,
  • 02:41 and I've directed the department to continue working with Governor Newsom
  • 02:44 to identify additional resources that can be provided
  • 02:48 for public safety and security.
  • 02:50 And
  • 02:51 we've secured additional firefighters and firefighting aircraft
  • 02:54 from our ally in Canada as well.