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Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Washington wildfire prevention, Spokane County fire relief among funding frozen by Trump order

Children’s toys are all that remained after the Gray fire destroyed a house in August 2023 in Medical Lake.  (Tyler Tjomsland/The Spokesman-Review)

A Monday order from President Donald Trump that froze federal funding to assess diversity programs and organizations that don’t adhere to his plans also froze funding for integral wildfire prevention programs around Washington.

Trump’s order freezing significant portions of federal spending pending a review by his administration was halted temporarily by a judge, but the order raised many questions around wildfire and disaster relief programs supported with federal money.

The frozen funds included millions to help communities recover from devastating wildfires on the West Plains and in northern Spokane County in 2023.

Still, some local officials are waiting to take any action because the announcement is so recent that future ramifications aren’t exactly clear.

The Washington Department of Natural Resources, a state-run agency that aids in fighting and preventing wildfires, also spent much of Tuesday examining how the federal funding freeze would impact its wildfire prevention grants.

“We went from waking up to the news that we may be losing $100 million to prevent and respond to wildfires to getting random guidance saying that a freeze probably doesn’t apply to wildfire work to a court throwing the brakes on the whole thing,” DNR spokesperson Ryan Rodruck said in an email. “Right now, we’re looking at every federal dollar this agency receives to get a better sense of what might be impacted. Yes, a court has stopped this for now, but we don’t want to be caught off guard again in two weeks.”

The Trump administration alerted agencies Monday evening, with little to no notice, that federal grants would be frozen following a review to ensure those agencies were adhering to the government’s priorities.

A memo from the Office of Management and Budget claims federal funding projects on the chopping block are limited to “ending DEI, the green new deal, and funding nongovernmental organizations that undermine the national interest.”

The freeze was blocked and delayed until Monday by a federal judge Tuesday. But the parameters still appear vague in scope for when the freeze could resume.

The order originally affected the $44 million federal assistance approved by Congress and former President Joe Biden to aid in the rebuilding of areas around Medical Lake and Elk destroyed by the Oregon Road and Gray fires , according to Medical Lake Mayor Terri Cooper. The county received the grant, aimed toward housing development, infrastructure restoration, economic support and fire resiliency, earlier this month.

Medical Lake City Administrator Sonny Weathers said because the freeze was meant to review legitimacy, he is hopeful the government will see the value in the town’s disaster relief grants.

“There could be some delays, but at this point, the work we are engaged in is mostly about that resilience effort. Recovery is ongoing and we won’t rest until we have gotten everybody comfortably back and restored,” Weathers said.

The town also is waiting on a hazard mitigation grant program for backup power generators, awarded from FEMA.

That agreement has not been finalized, Weathers said.

DNR, one agency that received the Trump administration’s notice, is “concerned that it could impact pass-through recipients of Community Wildfire Defense Grants,” according to an email from Rodruck. The agency is also “getting a grasp” on potential impacts that federal funding cuts could have on the people of Washington, he said, but the status is in limbo.

“With no foresight and no warning about this morning’s order from (the Office of Management and Budget), we just don’t know right now,” Rodruck wrote.

In the meantime, scrambling to understand what lies in the future, DNR plans to work with grant recipients to ensure communities are able to reduce the hazards of wildfire.

“Similarly, we’ll continue to look at other DNR programs that receive federal funding, such as our efforts to ensure wildfire prevention information is accessible to people who do not speak English as their first language and our urban and community forestry program, which tailors grants to underserved and underrepresented communities,” the email said.

According to DNR, it receives multiple federal grants totaling around $105 million. Those grants include fire management assistant grants that protect communities from fire and reimburse state disaster accounts. They are waiting on $45 million to $50 million as part of this grant, Rodruck’s email said.

Other grants revolve around volunteer fire departments, keeping track of landslide areas, post fire debris flow preparedness and recovery, tsunami hazards and mitigation actions like evacuation planning and fuel reduction.

Spokane’s Fire Department also does extensive work planning and preparing forests for the potential of more devastating wildfires. The city uses a Community Wildfire Defense Grant for $1.5 million, which goes toward wildfire fuels reduction, said the fire department’s Wildland Resource Planner, Nick Jeffries.

Jeffries remained clear that “we don’t know anything yet” about the freeze or what would happen once it restarts, but if the grant was classified as wasteful spending and cut following the Trump administration’s review assessment, “it would have a huge impact,” Jeffries said.

“It’s critical to reduce the risk of catastrophic fire,” he said. “We are fitting forests to make the fire less intense when it comes.”

The city is working to minimize the impact of fire on about 400 acres under the Community Wildfire Defense Grant. If that were to be on the chopping block, “then you’d lose out on a lot more,” Jeffries said.

The pausing and unpausing of the disaster relief money for the 2023 Oregon Road and Gray fires in Spokane County could delay the grant process further because there are certain milestones, like data assessment and community feedback, that the county must hit before cashing the check in its entirety.

Spokane County Commissioner Al French said during the freezing and review process, the county “will answer any questions” and address any issues raised by the government “to get access to the grant money originally given to the county.”

“It’s still early in the process. But we will go through the process,” French said.

Trump has withheld wildfire funding from Washington before. In 2021, he prevented the town of Malden from receiving federal dollars to rebuild after a fire swept through the town. The reason, according to previous Spokesman-Review reporting, was due to his animosity toward Washington’s former governor, Jay Inslee.