FEMA Improperly Rejected Wildfire Disaster Aid Applicants

By Alison St John / Reporter, KPBS Public Broadcasting

Published December 14, 2007 at 11:42 AM PST

This story was published more than 16 years ago.

San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa has asked the federal Emergency Management Agency to rewrite a rejection letter that was received by thousands of people who lost everything in the October wildfires

San Diego Congressman Darrell Issa has asked the Federal Emergency Management Agency to rewrite a rejection letter that was received by thousands of people who lost everything in the October wildfires. KPBS reporter Alison St John has more.

At a hearing in San Diego this week, Issa grilled a FEMA official about a letter that informed fire victims they are ineligible for federal aid.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Thousands of San Diegans were encouraged to apply for aid from FEMA, and most got letters saying they were ineligible.

Issa pointed out some of those letters said the applicants were not eligible because their losses were not substantial, even though the applicants had, in fact, lost everything.

Issa : A letter that on its face is only going to cause greater pain and suffering to the people that receive it.

A regional FEMA official, Nancy Ward, admitted some people got those letters by mistake, that they should have been told they were ineligible because they had insurance.

She said FEMA will also redraft those letters to encourage people to reapply, if their insurance companies do not cover all their losses.

Become a KPBS sponsor

Alison St John, KPBS News.

Alison St John

twitter

Alison St John currently serves as a general assignment reporter and occasionally co-hosts KPBS Midday Edition. She fell in love with KPBS Radio when she arrived in San Diego in 1985 and first heard NPR. She has been a voice on KPBS Radio since 1989, and has served as a news reporter for radio, TV and the web, as well as anchoring, hosting, producing and editing. Alison has reported on stories about North County and was based in the KPBS' North County Bureau. Alison covered the metro beat during the critical period of the San Diego City pension crisis, and the education beat while Alan Bersin was the controversial Superintendent of San Diego City School District. She covered health when the industry was converting to managed care and told welfare reform stories in the late 1990s when Clinton was “ending welfare as we know it.” She has covered land use issues extensively, looking at the challenges of meeting a growing population while preserving community character, and developing a better transportation system to meet environmental concerns. She has done many stories on the military in San Diego, and the series she edited on the challenges veterans face returning from active duty to civilian life won “Best of Show” from the San Diego Society of Professional Journalists. She occasionally hosts the KPBS Roundtable and KPBS Midday Edition. Alison has won awards from the San Diego Press Club, the Society of Professional Journalists, the Associated Press TV and Radio Association, and the California Golden Mike Awards. Alison was born in Tanzania, brought up in Scotland, and earned her degree in psychology and sociology from Durham University in England. Her postgraduate diploma is in student counseling. She worked in England, Nigeria, Switzerland, Belgium, India, and Japan before moving to the United States in 1981. She now lives in Oceanside and enjoys how her community is growing and changing.