SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Individuals and households with losses due to August/September wildfires in Butte, Lake, Lassen, Mendocino, Monterey, Napa, San Mateo, Santa Clara, Santa Cruz, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Trinity, Tulare and Yolo counties have just one day remaining to apply for grants from FEMA or low-interest disaster loans from the U.S. Small Business Administration.
These counties are included in federal Disaster 4558, declared initially Aug. 22 for seven counties and expanded later. The registration deadline is Dec. 11.
FEMA awards help eligible survivors pay for rent, home repair/replacement and many other serious disaster-related needs, including replacement or repair of vehicles, funeral expenses, medical or dental expenses and miscellaneous other costs. To be reimbursed by FEMA, survivors should photograph damage and save receipts for repair work.
Survivors should contact their insurers and file a claim for the disaster-caused damage before they register with FEMA. Anyone with insurance should register with FEMA even if they aren’t yet certain whether they will be eligible. FEMA may be able to help with costs that insurance doesn’t cover.
The agency can determine eligibility once an applicant’s insurance claim is settled—but there won’t be any FEMA reimbursement for those who fail to register by the Dec. 11 deadline for those who suffered losses in fires including the CZU Lightning Complex, SCU Lighting Complex, August Complex Fire, LNU Lightning Complex, North Complex, Sheep, Dolan and SQF Complex.
There are three ways for survivors to register: online at DisasterAssistance.gov, with the FEMA Mobile App on a smartphone or tablet, or by or by calling the FEMA Helpline at 800-621-3362 (TTY 800-462-7585) between 7 a.m. and 8 p.m. PST. Those who use a relay service such as a videophone, Innocaption or CapTel, should provide FEMA with the specific number assigned to that service when they register. Multilingual services are available on the helpline and specialists can answer most aid questions.
To register you will need the following information:
Social Security number
Insurance policy information
Address of the damaged primary dwelling
A description of disaster-caused damage and losses
Current mailing address
Current telephone number
Total household annual income
Routing and account number of your checking or savings account (for direct transfer of funds to your bank account)
After you register online or with the FEMA app, you can create your own account. This will enable you to check the status of your application, view messages from FEMA, update your personal information and upload documents that may be necessary to determine your eligibility for aid.
If you are unable to upload your documents, mail them to FEMA at P.O. Box 10055, Hyattsville MD 20782-8055 or fax them to 800-827-8112.
U.S. Small Business Administration
Dec. 11 is also the deadline to apply for a disaster loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration. Grants from FEMA are meant to give eligible survivors a start on their road to recovery. The primary source of recovery funding for many, however, is a loan from the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), which makes disaster loans to individuals and businesses of all sizes.
Survivors can find out more and apply for a loan at DisasterLoanAssistance.sba.gov/. For additional assistance, contact the SBA’s Virtual Disaster Loan Outreach Center. Customer service representatives are available to assist individuals and business owners, answer questions about SBA’s disaster loan program, explain the application process and help each person complete their electronic loan application. The Virtual DLOC is open 5 a.m. to 5 p.m. PST daily. Call 800-659-2955 or email FOCWAssistance@sba.gov.
These services are only available for the California disaster declaration as a result of the wildfires.
For the latest information on wildfire recovery, visit https://www.fema.gov/disaster/4558 and follow the FEMA Region 9 Twitter account at https://twitter.com/femaregion9.
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All FEMA disaster assistance will be provided without discrimination on the grounds of race, color, sex (including sexual harassment), religion, national origin, age, disability, limited English proficiency, economic status, or retaliation. If you believe your civil rights are being violated, call 800-621-3362 or 800-462-7585(TTY/TDD).
FEMA’s mission: Helping people before, during, and after disasters.
The U.S. Small Business Administration is the federal government’s primary source of money for the long-term rebuilding of disaster-damaged private property. SBA helps businesses of all sizes, private nonprofit organizations, homeowners and renters fund repairs or rebuilding efforts and cover the cost of replacing lost or disaster-damaged personal property.
For more information, applicants may contact SBA’s Disaster Assistance Customer Service Center at 800-659-2955. TTY users may also call 800-877-8339. Applicants may also email disastercustomerservice@sba.gov or visit SBA at SBA.gov/disaster
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