These wildfire survivors say FEMA did little to help those who lost homes

LOS ANGELES — It took 120 years for Candance Tyler's family to build a life in Grizzly Flats.

It took a wildfire just a few hours to destroy it.

The first shock came when Tyler learned her family's 500-acre timber ranch, on which stood seven homes including the original 1854 homestead, had been reduced to rubble.

The second came when she learned there would be no assistance from the federal government to help her and other survivors of last year's Caldor fire rebuild.

"It's heartbreaking and devastating," Tyler said. "I feel like our community has been forgotten about and left behind to pick up the pieces by itself."

While the Federal Emergency Management Agency is often seen providing trailers and money to victims of hurricanes, tornadoes and floods, survivors of this California wildfire complain that the agency has had little to offer them when their homes were destroyed by flames.

Although FEMA has made funds available to reimburse the state and local governments for costs related to the Caldor fire, the agency did not approve a request from California Gov. Gavin Newsom to provide for individual assistance, which would go directly to uninsured or underinsured residents to help with temporary housing and rebuilding costs.

The move has perplexed state officials and added to criticism that FEMA's assistance programs are geared more toward Eastern and Midwestern disasters, and not the worsening climate change-fueled wildfires that have seen California's requests for