Amid active wildfires, uncertainty around FEMA funding is concerning for local emergency officials
As three wildfires burn across northern Minnesota, efforts remain focused on containment and protecting the public’s safety.
Yet beyond the immediate emergency crisis, broader concerns are surfacing around the future of disaster preparedness and recovery funding.
“We’re in a tough situation right now when it comes to funding,” said Mike Keyport, the Cook County emergency management director. “FEMA is going through some changes with our current administration.”
In recent months, the Trump administration has pushed to reduce the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s (FEMA) funding, wanting to place more responsibility on individual states. FEMA provides assistance and funding for preparedness, mitigation, and response to states for hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, natural disasters, and wildfires.
On Thursday, May 8, David Richardson, a former Marine Corps officer who served in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Africa, was named acting administrator of FEMA just after Cameron Hamilton, who’d been leading the agency, also in an acting role, was fired.
Richardson said during a May 15 staff town hall that his intention is to “return primacy to the states” as part of an agencywide transformation.
His comments cemented the Trump administration’s intent to bring about a major shift in the agency’s mission. Richardson said FEMA’s intent for the 2025 “disaster season” will be to strengthen states’ abilities for response and recovery while coordinating federal assistance “when deemed necessary.”
This issue — how much states, as opposed to the federal government, should pay for disaster recovery — has been a growing concern, especially at a time of an increasing number of natural disasters that often require Congress to repeatedly replenish the federal fund that pays for recovery.
But states often argue that they are already paying for most disaster recoveries on their own and are only going to the federal government for those events truly outside of their ability to respond.
Keyport said years ago, Minnesota started a disaster contingency account that allocates $50 million annually to the fund. “So if it’s a state disaster, that money would be used, and then if the state can’t do that, it gets moved up to FEMA.”
The Disaster Assistance Contingency Account (DACA) was established by the Minnesota Legislature in 2014. The account allows the state to distribute natural disaster recovery funds in a more timely manner. Prior to 2014, if a natural disaster occurred after the legislature adjourned its regular session, Minnesota communities had to wait for the next legislative session or a special session for state assistance.
In 2024, Minnesota spent over $51 million on federal and state disaster recovery efforts, according to state records. The disasters primarily included severe storms and flooding across the state, a significant portion of which occurred in June 2024.
If the state needed further disaster response funding, FEMA would step in.
However, given the recent changes within FEMA, Keyport said his department and other county emergency management directors are hearing that for future disaster events, FEMA is “just not covering that anymore.”
FEMA funding was helpful for many Cook County residents and businesses following the June 2024 flooding. Approximately 17 residents and businesses applied for FEMA individual assistance funding after flooding damaged their driveways and property.
Given the magnitude of the Camp House and Jenkins Creek wildfires in St. Louis County and the destruction of over 150 homes and cabins, Keyport said the uncertainty of FEMA funding is “very concerning.”
On Monday, St. Louis County Board Chair Annie Harala signed a state of local emergency declaration and a state of local disaster for the county.
The declaration comes eight days after the Camp House fire began and one week after the Jenkins Creek and Munger Shaw fires began. Together, the three wildfires have burned more than 30,000 acres.
The declaration is a procedural step in the state’s process for counties to request state public disaster assistance for wildfire response and recovery activities, the Monday news release says. The St. Louis County Board of Commissioners will vote on the declaration during an emergency meeting on Tuesday, May 20, at 9 a.m. in the St. Louis County Courthouse in Duluth.
The release says the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Emergency Management division is working with affected municipalities to conduct a Damage and Impact Assessment Report to determine the financial cost and impact of the three wildfires. The report will be submitted to the Minnesota Homeland Security and Emergency Management (HSEM) to determine eligibility for state public disaster assistance.
A county must reach a threshold of damage, partly determined by population, to qualify for FEMA funding. The St. Louis County declaration and Damage and Impact Assessment Report are the first steps in the recovery process. The county will submit the report to the state and then FEMA, if needed.
So far in 2025, FEMA has 51 disaster declarations for states and counties and 36 fire incidents across the nation, including many throughout the southeast. The agency has provided $214.1 million in grants to disaster survivors in 2025, according to the FEMA website.
WTIP’s Kalli Hawkins spoke with Cook County Emergency Management Director Mike Keyport about emergency preparedness, reminders for homeowners and property owners, and FEMA funding. The audio from the interview is below.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kalli Hawkins May 19, 2025
