SACRAMENTO – California Governor Gavin Newsom secured a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to help ensure the availability of vital resources to suppress the Apple Fire burning in Riverside and San Bernardino counties. The FMAG also enables local, state and tribal agencies to recover eligible costs.
The fire started on July 31, 2020, and, so far, has burned in excess of 20,500 acres of local, state and federal land and is threatening thousands of structures in both Riverside and San Bernardino counties.
Mandatory evacuations are underway north of Cherry Blvd, east of Live Oak, south of Wildwood Canyon along Oak Glen Rd, northwest of Highland Springs, north of Wilson along Bluff St and Mias Canyon. There is also an evacuation warning for the Morongo Indian Reservation.
The recent high temperatures and low relative humidity have made an ideal environment for dangerous fire conditions throughout the region.
The Apple Fire continues to pose a substantial threat to homes and business, and has impacted critical infrastructure in the impacted areas along with direct threat to high voltage power lines.
Cal OES Fire and Rescue, Law Enforcement and Southern Region personnel are currently responding in concert with Cal Fire and other federal, state and local agencies to address emergency management and mutual aid needs for the incident.
The federal Fire Management Assistance Grant, which is provided through the President’s Disaster Relief Fund on cost-share basis, will assist local, state and tribal agencies responding to the fire to apply for 75-percent reimbursement of their eligible fire suppression costs.