An important portion of the partnership involves the 71 manufactured homes FEMA had stored near Sacramento in anticipation of floods that may occur after the wildfires that periodically ravage the state, according to bakersfieldnow.
The MHUs (manufactured housing units) had previously been scheduled to be returned eastward, but the partnership with the state resulted in Cal OIS (California Office of Information Security) requesting FEMA to designate the homes as “surplus,” which allows the state to hold the MH and distribute the units as needed.
Kern County Fire Department Chief Brian Marshall said, “This is an exciting project that will help our residents in the Kern River Valley that were devastated by the Erskine Fire get back to some sort of normalcy,” Marshall said. “Even though the Erskine Fire was out within two weeks, the long-term recovery is going to be years.”
Since the county did not get a federal declaration of disaster, which would have allowed the use of the FEMA housing units, the state contacted FEMA directly and asked that the homes be declared surplus, which allows the partnership to use them as needed. The plan to distribute the MHUs is currently in process.
Other resources include free debris removal and low-interest loans from the Small Business Administration (SBA), in addition to a number of nonprofits and volunteer groups assisting in the rebuild of the Kern River Valley. ##
(Photo credit: usatoday–rubble from the Erskine Fire in California)
