The following is the full transcript of an interview with FEMA administrator Deanne Criswell on “Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan” that aired on Jan. 12, 2025.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Jonathan Vigliotti, thank you. We turn now to FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell. Welcome back to “Face the Nation.”
FEMA ADMINISTRATOR DEANNE CRISWELL: Good morning, Margaret.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The Santa Ana winds are forecast to continue into the next week, and that could fuel some of the blazes. What is your biggest area of concern right now?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: You know, with these winds coming back, and them issuing the red flag warnings, you know, these winds change the- the dynamics of this fire, and so I’m concerned for the safety of our firefighters, concerned for their ability continue to contain this fire, and I want people to make sure that they are listening closely to what local officials are saying, so they can stay safe and they can stay out of harm’s way.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, I know the winds themselves are rare for this particular time of year, but Los Angeles, in the area, they got a lot of experience with wildfires. They have a lot of regulation and a large firefighting force. Do you have a sense at this point why the area was so unprepared?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: I think that they were very prepared. This is something that they are very used to, they fight fires all the time. But they have never seen 100 mile an hour winds that are fueling the fire, and those winds and that weather condition is what really impacts, you know, where this fire is going to go, but more importantly, how they’re able to try to contain it in those first few hours and days. And because it was in such a populated area, it just makes it that much more challenging to be able to get in there and secure the perimeter, but as well, try to save as many homes as possible.
MARGARET BRENNAN: In terms of the federal response and the support you’re given to local authorities, President Biden spoke a few times from the oval office this week, and he did mention the need to move power lines underground. Do you know, were the power lines a cause of any of these blazes?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: Yeah, I don’t have any information on the cause, and I think that’s certainly going to be something that’s going to be, you know, under investigation. But I think when we think about moving the power lines underground, it’s not just from the cause, but it’s also, how do you keep the power on when we have these severe weather incidents? When you underground them, you create a more resilient community, and it can withstand the impacts of all of these different types of storms, whether it’s fires or hurricanes, and we want to be able to keep these communities energized.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Will that be a requirement for any federal support for the rebuild?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: It’s not going to be a requirement for us unless it’s part of their local code, right? And we want to be able to enforce the local codes that they have, and so we’ll work closely with California. It’s also using this as an opportunity. You know, even if it’s not a requirement, is this something that they want to be able to do? We have additional ways that we can fund that through our programs as they begin the rebuilding.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The governor has indicated he’s looking at a number of executive orders. If local environmental regulations are loosened here in order to help quickly rebuild, does that concern you at all? And will it make it more complicated for people to obtain ob- insurance, which we already know is quite expensive and hard for many Californians to get.
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: You know, the insurance piece is a real concern. We’ve, you know, heard the stories of so many people that have lost their insurance prior to this event, and that’s the number one resource that families have to help with their rebuilding process. And so what I think we want to be able to do is we want to be able to work with the governor’s team to rebuild in a way that makes communities more resilient, that keeps insurance companies there, right, that we rebuild in a way that makes them stronger, and reducing the impact so they want to stay in these communities, and they don’t have to to lose the insurance carriers. We have to be able to work together with the insurance industry to help find ways to- to keep this really valuable resource in place for so many families.
MARGARET BRENNAN: But, many of these policies were already canceled months ago, as we’ve been reporting. So should the government, though, be in the business of stepping in and helping people rebuild if the private market has deemed these areas just too risky?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: You know, our programs really help jump start the recovery process, but without insurance, families are going to have to find other means to be able to rebuild. But again, it’s not necessarily just where you rebuild, it’s going to be how. And we want to be able to do things that can encourage families to rebuild their homes in a way that make them more fire resistant. You know, we have a lot of science and technology out there that shows ways that we can make these homes stronger and more resistant against these fires. That’s really where we need to focus our efforts as we move into the rebuilding phase.
MARGARET BRENNAN: President Biden said that 100% of the firefighting costs will be picked up for six months on the federal tab, but there is the separate issue of individual assistance to victims who lost their homes. We checked, and Congress set the maximum FEMA grant level at just short of $44,000. It’s very expensive living in California. Does that need to be raised? Should Congress do that?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: So again, our programs aren’t designed to replace insurance. Our programs are designed to jump start the recovery process, and we know that in- in many areas, not just California, that you know that is not going to be enough to rebuild a home, which is why insurance is so important. We’ll work with other partners, and one of our greatest partners is the Small Business Administration that can do low interest loans to these families to give them another resource to help rebuild. We’ll also work with our nonprofit partners, philanthropic partners, bringing the whole society together so we can work with each family to help them figure out the right tools that they’re going to need and the decisions that they’re going to have to make as they go down this recovery journey
MARGARET BRENNAN: You’re describing a really costly enterprise here. I’ve seen estimates on damages that range from $60 to $130 billion. Do you have any ballpark figure at this point–
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: –No–
MARGARET BRENNAN: –Because it would seem, according to President Biden, that Congress is going to have to do more.
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: Yeah, I don’t have any good estimates right now, and I think it’s important to remember that these fires are still burning, which means damage is still happening. But the cost for this disaster, both from just the physical infrastructure, but also the economic losses, they’re going to be significant. There’s going to be other programs that congress can work through, like HUD’s Community Development Block Grant for Disaster program, that can also help cover some of the things that FEMA’s programs don’t cover, or other parts of the insurance industry. There’s a wide variety of different tools and resources that can be used that need to be authorized by Congress to really help this community on this road to recovery.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So, Congress did just provide more emergency funding in the supplemental. So this is- this is not a one time problem. This seems to be a recurring need to get more and more federal money here. Can you update us on where we are with the recovery in North Carolina?
08:43:19
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: Yeah, I mean, I’m glad you mentioned the funding, because we really were worried about that as we were going into the recovery in North Carolina, but we got bipartisan support from Congress and $27 billion into our disaster relief fund so we can support the response and recovery efforts for this fire, but also the ongoing recovery efforts that are happening across the six states that were impacted by Hurricane Helene, as well as Hurricane Milton. You know, we’re continuing to work with- with Governor Stein, now in- in North Carolina, as he’s working through the recovery piece and, you know, working on getting the debris removal out of the way so families can rebuild their homes, helping them restore the infrastructure. We still have so many people engaged in North Carolina helping with this recovery process, because we know it’s going to be complicated. It’s going to be complicated here in California, but we’re going to bring in the right experts and the right staff to support them throughout that journey.
MARGARET BRENNAN
Secretary Mayorkas recently told us that you all had to pull some federal workers out of the area, out of North Carolina, because of threats against them that’s fueled by misinformation. Has that ended, or is that threat continuing?
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL
Yeah, I just want to be clear, we had one specific incident at one day during the response in North Carolina, where we pulled people from going door to door, but we always kept our facilities open, and we had people in all of those communities. But it’s really unfortunate that we had to do that right because the misinformation was creating these harassing environments for our staff. We do- it is not like what we saw, you know, during those initial days in North Carolina, but we’ve put measures in place to make sure that our staff know that they’re safe and that they’re protected, and that we can continue to support people. They are going door to door, still talking to individuals, and we have these fixed facilities where individuals can come talk to us. But you know, this is going to be something we’re going to have to face going forward is this level of misinformation that’s going out there and getting people to know that they can access our programs, we’re going to have to work closely with local officials on all these events to make sure we’re getting the right information to the people that have been impacted.
MARGARET BRENNAN
Well, we appreciate you joining us today to get the message out. Administrator Criswell, good luck to you.
ADMINISTRATOR CRISWELL: Thank you.
