After Paradise

Four Months Later, Where’s FEMA?

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Marc Albert

Beyond water and food, housing, or at least shelter is among life’s requirements. With 19,000 structures destroyed, evacuees are scattered among friends and family. Others are jammed into motels, hotels and RV parks from Sacramento to Redding.

More than four months after the fire began, the one thing most associated with disaster recovery: the ubiquitous FEMA trailer is nowhere to be seen. Yesterday, I spoke with Victor Inge, an external affairs specialist with FEMA’s region 9. He said there’s a fundamental misunderstanding about the trailers: which FEMA officially calls manufactured homes.