As a forecaster estimates that the deadly Los Angeles County fires have caused more than $250 billion in damage and economic loss, President Joe Biden announced that he is giving one-time payments of $770 to all affected residents and victims of the wildfires.
On Monday (January 13), President Joe Biden announced that federal aid is on its way to California as Los Angeles County battles one of its worst sets of fires in state history. Late Monday, Biden, whose tenure in the White House is drawing to a close, and senior officials gathered to discuss the ongoing fires in Los Angeles, which have claimed the lives of at least 29 people, and how his administration and federal government plans to respond.
In the meeting, President Joe Biden vowed to offer a one-time payment of $770 to the victims of the deadly Los Angeles County fires and that the government would be covering 100% of the disaster response costs for the next six months.
Biden said, “I want to be clear, we are not waiting until the fires are over to help victims. We are helping them all right now. People impacted by these fires are going to receive a one-time payment of $770. So, they can quickly purchase things like water, baby formula, and prescriptions. So far, nearly 6,000 survivors have registered to do just that, and $5.1 million has gone out.”
For those who have been impacted by the Los Angeles County fires, President Joe Biden said victims can visit DisasterAssistance.gov or call 1-800-621-3362. As mentioned, the federal government will be covering all fire-related and firefighting costs for the next 180 days.
Nearly $5.1 million in immediate aid has already been distributed, with victims of the wildfires in Los Angeles being given a one-time payment of $770. Additionally, FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) has reported that about 33,000 residents have already registered for disaster assistance.
In a briefing with Vice President Kamala Harris and emergency officials, President Biden said, “It’s going to cost tens of billions of dollars to get Los Angeles to what it was. We are going to need Congress to step up with the funding.”
President Joe Biden’s new announcement offering one-time $770 payments to the victims of the Los Angeles County fires, arrives as a forecaster estimates that the wildfires have caused more than $250 billion in damage and economic loss.
According to AccuWeather, the total damage and economic loss from the fires is now estimated to be between $250 billion and $275 billion. AccuWeather Chief Meteorologist Jonathan Porter claims the preliminary estimate has surpassed the total damage and loss accrued during the 2020 wildfire season. The damage and economic loss has also surpassed Hurricane Helene in 2024, which cost between $225 billion to $250 billion, and has surpassed the deadly Maui, Hawaii fires in 2023, which cost an estimated $13 billion to $16 billion.
Porter has also warned that if additional structures burn down and further impact occurs in the coming days, the current Los Angeles fires may become “the worst in modern California history.”
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