ICYMI: Biden-Harris Administration on Broadcast in Reponses to Maui Wildfires

On Thursday, President Biden declared a major disaster to deploy Federal aid to supplement Hawaii's state and local recovery efforts. Since then, the Biden-Harris Administration has mobilized robust whole-of-government response effort to support immediate and long-term rescue and recovery efforts in Maui, Hawaii.

Administration officials including FEMA Administration Deanne Criswell, Director for the Operations Division in FEMA's Response Directorate, Jeremy Greenberg, U.S. Fire Administrator Lori Moore-Merrell, Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman, FEMA spokesperson John and Associate Administrator for the U.S. Small Business Administration's Office of Disaster Recovery & Resilience Francisco Sánchez have blanketed airwaves and held a conference with local press. Administration officials have expressed condolences to the people of Maui and outlined the whole-of-government approach the Administration is taking at President Biden's directive.

See coverage below:

Deanne Criswell at Press Briefing - August 14, 2023

Deanne Criswell on CBS Face the Nation - August 13, 2023

JONATHAN VIGLIOTTI: There are currently hundreds of people still missing. How long do you think it will take to conduct this search effort?

ADMINISTRATOR DEANNE CRISWELL: I think it just depends on the conditions around us and how long the dogs can continue to go in there. The dogs are the ones that are really making a big difference in helping to identify the location, where then the rest of the rescuers can come in and identify if there's any remains there. We're bringing in more. We're bringing in more teams and more dogs, so we can speed up that process as much as we can.

Deanne Criswell on Fox News Sunday – August 13, 2023

LA JEUNESSE: […] FEMA is mobilizing resources and the biggest challenge is housing, 4,500 need shelter.

DEANNA CRISWELL, FEMA DIRECTOR: We are not taking anything off the table.

LA JEUNESSE: FEMA Director Deanna Criswell and Governor Josh Green say hotels promised a thousand rooms.

CRISWELL: Bringing in temporary housing is one of the tools we have in our toolbox, but we can also do other things like work with direct leasing and use some of the available vacation homes.

Deane Criswell on MSNBC – August 10, 2023

JANSING: So let me bring in the FEMA Director Deanne Criswell, you heard what's going on in Hawaii. I know you have seen it, so let's talk about that disaster declaration. What resources does that open up for the people of Hawaii?

CRISWELL: Hi, Chris, good afternoon. I just got off the phone with the Governor just shortly before that was released to let him know that the president did approve his request for a major disaster declaration. At this stage, what that's going to do is allow us to really make sure we're bringing in the entire federal family to support the response needs right now and then begin the recovery process. You know, we are still very much supporting Hawaii's lifesaving and life sustaining missions, and we want to make sure we have everything at our fingertips to be able to get out there to support them. We've already released enough meals and water to support 5,000 people for five days from our logistics center that's there on the island, and we'll send more as needed, and we're sending additional communications teams and communications equipment as well as teams that will go on the ground and talk to people and help them get registered for assistance. We're going to keep moving these resources in as we have a better understanding of what the actual impacts are. But today focused on saving lives and sustaining those that have been displaced.

JANSING: So how much can you do in terms of firefighting resources? Because I was noticing when I was reading the Maui times this morning that the hazardous conditions in Hawaii sent some first responders to the hospital. This is a dangerous situation for them, tremendously dangerous.

CRISWELL: […] Part of our resources and part of what this support will do is help reimburse for all of the overtime costs that they are incurring to help suppress these fires, but also it gives us the ability to bring in additional resources if they don't have what they need on the island. So we're going to work very closely with the governor and his team to know exactly what they need and get those resources moving to help them stop the spread of this fire.

JANSING: As you well know, thousands of people remain without power. There is very little internet access right now in the areas of the hardest hit fires. What's your team doing to get in contact with people who need help or how can they get in touch with you?

CRISWELL: There's a number of ways. We know that many people were evacuated, right, and so they are at shelters on Oahu or maybe they're in shelters in Maui. We will have teams that will go to them, get their information and start their process of recovery. If you have internet access, you can go to disaster disasterassistance.gov. Or you can call if you have phone access. That usually at this stage, long wait times and so I would strongly encourage people to either go to the internet or we will bring people into the shelters and into the communities that haven't been as significantly impacted as it's safe to do so.

Deanne Criswell on CNN – August 10, 2023

BERMAN: You have people on the ground as you said, and what are they seeing in terms of the scope of the destruction?

CRISWELL: What we are seeing is widespread devastation across many neighborhoods in Maui, and we have an office on Oahu and so we had staff there, and senior leader from our regional office was there for another meeting, and immediately able to embed with the state emergency operations center and hear the tragic impacts that the communities, and start moving resources early yesterday to support the communications outages. WE also have sent out our [personnel who are going to be able to help the impacted individuals. So, we, and also, we have opened up the logistics center there on Oahu and have provided meals for up to 5,000 people for up to five day and we can send more as needed. And we have immediately pushed in the resources for the tragic widespread impact that this fire is having.

Deanne Criswell on NPR Morning Edition – August 10, 2023

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST: Wildfires in Maui, now mostly contained, have killed 55 people. So what can authorities do for those who survived? That's a big question for the head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Deanne Criswell visits Maui today. She spoke with A Martínez on the way in and said she will be under a disaster declaration signed by the president.

DEANNE CRISWELL: It will help reimburse the jurisdictions for a lot of the costs that they are incurring, but it also allows us to bring in all of our federal partners to support any of the remaining response needs as they're still working to extinguish the fire and as they need additional debris removal assets. All of that is covered within this. But I also think another important piece of what this disaster declaration does is it helps the individuals that have been impacted through our individual assistance program, and it provides things like reimbursement or some cash assistance for some of the repairs that they may need. But we also understand that people have lost everything. And so this is designed to jumpstart their recovery, but it also brings crisis counseling and disaster unemployment assistance - right? - and so all these other needs that these communities may have as a result of this wildfire.

[..]

MARTÍNEZ: Will FEMA on these things work with, say, the Coast Guard, the Navy or the military in some way to get help to the people in Hawaii?

CRISWELL: Absolutely. So what this federal declaration does is it allows us basically to give them an assignment to go support. So the governor will ask for something. He'll have a need. He may not know exactly what resource he needs. But he'll have a need to have something accomplished. And then we can go out to our federal partners through this declaration and give them a mission assignment and have them go provide the assistance to the governor to help support that need.

MARTÍNEZ: How long does FEMA expect to stay and to be there to oversee things?

CRISWELL: Yeah. We don't even need to put a timetable on it. We will be there as long as the governor needs us there, right? And we know that we're going to have a lot of resources in there supporting this response. But even after the cameras go away, we are going to be there to support the recovery needs, and our personnel will stay there for as long as it takes. And we also have an office right there on Oahu, right? So we have personnel that are stationed there each and every day that will just surge that up to provide additional support to help the governor meet his needs.

KHNL-HON (NBC) - Honolulu, HI – August 12, 2023

CRISWELL: Aloha. On behalf of President Biden, I wanted to start by expressing how deeply impacted we know this community is, and that our prayers are with everybody that has been impact the by this truly, truly tragic event. I had the opportunity today to spend the day with Governor Green and see firsthand really what this devastation is."

KITV-HON (ABC) - Honolulu, HI – August 12, 2023

CRISWELL: The presidential disaster declaration that President Biden signed gives us the ability of FEMA to bring in all of our federal partners and what you'll see here today as we are ready have support from the Small Business Administration, Army Corps, US Fire Administrator, Department of Defense, the Coast guard, HHS and many more. We will continue to bring in all of our federal partners as we better understand what's going to be needed to go through this recovery process."

Francisco Sanchez on CNN This Morning – August 14, 2023

MATTINGLY: What have you seen on the ground with the destruction?

FRANCISCO SANCHEZ, SBA ASSOCIATE ADMINISTRATOR, OFFICE OF DISASTER RECOVERY & RESILIENCE: Good morning. We can't begin to understand the grief and the loss that these communities are going through. What we saw on the ground is nothing short of catastrophic or heartbreaking. The president signed a major disaster declaration, and he was very clear: bring every federal resource that we have available to help these communities recover. So the people of Maui, the people of Hawaii need to know that they're not at this alone, and the entire federal (ph) family is committed to helping them recover.

As a matter of fact, this weekend being on the ground, and the president sent a member of his cabinet, the Small Business Administration and Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman joined the head of FEMA to get a sense on the ground, a survey in person of what challenges this community will face. And what was very clear is that this is going to be a long-term recovery. And it's going to require a whole of government approach, a whole of community approach to make sure we get this community back on its feet.

John Mills on NBC – August 15, 2023

\r\nREPORTER: FEMA Spokesperson John Mills, he's on the ground in Maui county. He's assisting with the recovery efforts. […] We know FEMA for being on the scene of hurricane after hurricane. This seems like it has its unique challenges, Mr. Mills. Tell us what you're facing right now.

MILLS: Hoda, Savannah, good morning to both of you. FEMA's number one priority right now is helping people who have been directly affected by these historic fires. People who have lost their homes and, frankly, don't know where they're going to go next. Right now we do have our disaster survivor assistance crews going to the local shelters working one on one with survivors, helping them register for disaster assistance.

REPORTER: What are the challenges I think Hoda was just alluding to when you're talking about fires of this nature, but also on an island, a rather remote location.

MILLS: That's right. I just drove in from Lahaina a few minutes ago. Power is being restored. The power company gave a good update about that. Cellular phone service is being restored. We're very mindful right now that we have FEMA urban search and rescue teams working all day long to support the local fire department in looking for human remains. We know that the death toll here we're told is expected to continue to rise, so this is a very somber and respectful process that we're going through. At the same time working across multiple lines of effort in mass care, emergency service, critical infrastructure, and housing to figure out the next steps and support Maui county and support the state with not just short-term needs but also longer term recovery.

REPORTER: There are people who you mentioned, who obviously they have nowhere to live and nowhere to go, you're looking for housing. You're talking about months maybe even years before there's any kind of rebuilding. What kind of housing will be available for those people who are seeking it?

Jeremy Greenberger on CNN – August 14, 2023
GREENBERG: First and foremost, I'd like to offer our condolences to all of those who have been impacted by this tragic fire. While we know that there will be a review on the actions taken, the most important point right now that we want to stress is the recovery operations, making sure that the federal government is supporting the state of Hawaii in their search operations and most importantly starting the difficult process of recovery.

Jeremy Greenberg on MSNBC – August 12, 2023

HOST: What is your agency's biggest challenge right now?

GREENBERG: Good afternoon. thank you for having us on. FEMA is working, right now, with the state of Hawaii. focus primarily on our search and rescue operations. the lifesaving mission of ensuring that everyone has a shelter to live in, has water they can eat, and they can breathe clean air. we will also work with our state partners to ensure that this recovery operation, which is expected to be prolonged, is jump-started to get people back to a sense of normalcy.

HOST: How concerned are you about those environmental dangers that still persist? you mentioned the water, you mentioned the air, how effective can your efforts be in trying to help these residents?

GREENBERG: FEMA and all federal inter-agency partners are bringing every resource at the state of why needs. that includes temporary water for those in areas that are still contaminated. as well as other capability to make sure the state of why he had everything that is needed as the citizens work through the devastating effects of the wildfire.

HOST: Now Hawaii more than 2000 miles from mainland U.S. How difficult does that make it to deliver relief? it seems like that would be an added component that you have got to deal with.

GREENBERG: Certainly what the distance is a little bit of a challenge. however, FEMA has a permanent presence in the state of Hawaii. We have a distribution center. we have an office. immediately, as the fire started, our teams are in coordination with why officials to figure out what resources might be needed. from that point, we started deploying resources from the islands in around Hawaii, as well as the mainland states. we have had over 150 female employees arriving, the FEMA administrator the U.S. firemen straighter air all in the white day working with state officials to figure out what else the federal government can bring to assist the citizens impacted by this.

Isabel Guzman on KITV-HON (ABC) - KITV Island News at 5 – August 12th, 2023
SMALL BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR ISABELLA GUZMAN: Well, President Biden delivered the message that he was going to send more than just prayers and it was also going to be about the assets, the resources of the federal government to fully deploy what Hawaii needs not only in this response…but also in the long term.

Damile Llargues on Telemundo – August 11, 2023
MONSALVE: Mas de 30 personas han muerto en los terribles incendios forestales que continúan destruyendo partes de Hawái, según confirmaron las autoridades que siguen buscando sin cesar personas desaparecidas. Las personas buscan ayuda desesperadas. Mientras entre ellos tratan de salvar las vidas de sus vecinos, como cuenta este residente de Lahaina. Son tres los incendios que están quemando todo a su paso. Miles de personas han sido evacuadas y están en refugios. Es incierto cuando vayan a poder regresar a casa, y si aun la tienen. Según las autoridades más de 300 residencias y negocios han quedado destruidos y esperan que la cifra siga creciendo.

DANIEL LLARGUES, FEMA: Hay operaciones de emergencia para remover escombros, para ayudarles con esos costos pero también para las personas que quedaron desplazadas, para las familias que perdieron sus casas y su hogar también hay asistencia de FEMA.

MONSALVE: ...El presidente declaró este jueves la situación como una catástrofe y ordenó que se despliegue toda la asistencia federal.

KITV-HON (ABC) - August 12, 2023

HOST: […] We are going to be joining a press conference live in Kahului. Governor Josh Green with Mayor Richard Bissen and federal officials will discuss ongoing disaster response and talk about access to relief for residents and local and small businesses. As you can see -- or you will see in just a moment that there's a number of officials getting ready to speak. Also there, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell with Senator Mazie Hirono, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman and U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell.

KITV-HON (ABC) - August 12, 2023

HOST: […] We are going to be joining a press conference live in Kahului. Governor Josh Green with Mayor Richard Bissen and federal officials will discuss ongoing disaster response and talk about access to relief for residents and local and small businesses. As you can see -- or you will see in just a moment that there's a number of officials getting ready to speak. Also there, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell with Senator Mazie Hirono, U.S. Small Business Administration Administrator Isabella Casillas Guzman and U.S. Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell.

MauiNow: Here's what critical aid FEMA, federal partners are providing for Maui fire response, recovery
[Staff, 8/14/23]

As fire containment efforts continue in Hawai?i, FEMA is working with its federal partners to provide immediate relief and lend support to the state-led and locally executed mission on the ground. More than 250 FEMA staff are deployed and leveraging partner agency expertise to help Hawai?i residents and communities jumpstart their recovery. FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, US Fire Administrator Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell and US Small Business Administration Associate Administrator Francisco Sanchez Jr. are on Maui to continue to survey the catastrophic damage as field assessments, initial debris assessments and housing inspections are underway.

KHNL-HON (NBC) – 7PM News – August 13, 2023
GUZMAN: As President Biden has said, you know, he's committed to leveraging fully all the assets in the federal government of the federal government to deploy in Hawaii for the long-term. […]
CRISWELL: There still very much in life-saving, life-sustaining. Our urban search and rescue teams are marking them whether they are structurally safe or not. We need to continue to protect people to make sure that they do not go into a building and then it suddenly collapses.

KGMB-HON (CBS) – Evening News – August 14, 2023
CRISWELL: Contact your insurance company and then you can go to disasterassistance.gov or you can call 1-800-62-FEMA. You can find us at the shelters. We'll have people in FEMA shirts that will be walking around helping you register. Or if you have registered and you still have questions just ask.