Acting Head of FEMA Ousted as Trump Seemingly Moves to Eliminate the Agency
Already significantly understaffed, the emergency response agency has experienced layoffs and funding cuts under Trump just as an “above average” wildfire season approaches. One environmentalist called the prospect terrifying.
One day after the acting head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency said that eliminating FEMA was not “in the best interest of the American people,” the Trump administration ousted him.
Now, as the country heads into the stretch of months most prone to wildfires, no one knows if the federal agency key to preventing death and destruction from disasters will itself survive.
Cameron Hamilton’s comments on Wednesday to a congressional subcommittee directly contradicted statements by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, who has voiced support for eliminating the agency, and by President Donald Trump, who said while visiting North Carolina after Hurricane Helene that he would “begin the process of fundamentally reforming and overhauling FEMA—or maybe getting rid of FEMA,” according to NPR.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment but Tricia McLaughlin, a spokesperson for the Department of Homeland Security, told NBC News that Hamilton’s removal was not a response to his testimony.
Hamilton was replaced by David Richardson, who had been the assistant secretary at the Department of Homeland Security’s office for countering weapons of mass destruction. He told staff on Friday that he would “run right over” anyone resisting change there, USA Today reported.
The agency has also been impacted by layoffs under the Trump administration, which come on top of a long-term staffing shortage that could hamper its ability to operate effectively during another large disaster like the recent Los Angeles fires. In 2022, a Government Accountability Office report found that FEMA was 35 percent short of its staffing needs.
In January, Trump established the Federal Emergency Management Agency Review Council to advise him on changes he should make to the agency. The council includes Noem and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, governors, mayors and emergency response directors from Texas, Florida, Virginia and Mississippi, and former FEMA Administrator Robert J. Fenton.
FEMA has been stretched thin in recent years, even without hurricanes and wildfires worsened by climate change. One solution discussed at a March hearing held by the House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure was to expand the use of block grants to distribute disaster relief funds, enabling state officials to use the money as they see fit. FEMA currently makes emergency grants and provides temporary housing to disaster victims while administering other programs that help homeowners rebuild properties damaged or destroyed by extreme weather events like hurricanes, wildfires and tornadoes.
“FEMA was not designed to be the first responder in disasters. States and local governments are,” U.S. Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), chairman of the Economic Development, Public Buildings and Emergency Management Subcommittee, said at the hearing. “It is critical, therefore, that state and local governments make disaster preparedness a priority—that they budget for it, have the right people and training in place and ensure that they have the capability to respond.”
Some lawmakers worry that this could mean states would be responsible for providing much more disaster funding, even when they are unable to pay. With the widespread layoffs instituted by the Trump administration, government agencies may not have the experts on staff to accurately assess how much money should be given to disaster-stricken states, according to Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the Center for Western Priorities, a conservation and advocacy organization based in Colorado.
The Trump administration says and announces things “and then it’s not actually clear what it looks like in practice, particularly when they’re firing all of the experts who know how these things work,” said Weiss.
Many lawmakers and local firefighters are nervous about the continuing changes and cuts to FEMA, particularly as other agencies that help control and prevent wildfires—like the U.S. Forest Service and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration—are also experiencing layoffs.
“The reality is that Trump has decimated the U.S. Forest Service,” Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said at a press conference Thursday. “Nearly every single Forest Service employee supports fire operations in some capacity.”
Many who work in the Forest Service are trained to respond to fires, and their biologists conduct environmental assessments that guide prescribed burns—fires intentionally lit to avoid later uncontrollable burning—according to Murray. As Inside Climate News previously reported, NOAA staff at local weather forecast offices provide crucial information to response teams on the ground during wildfires.
As summer approaches, Western states like Washington are preparing for the wildfire season. The Washington Department of Natural Resources (DNR) is predicting that 2025 will be an “above average” year for wildfires, partially due to drought conditions in some areas of the state. In parts of Utah, Colorado and New Mexico, snow is disappearing 1 to 4 weeks early, according to the National Integrated Drought Information System.
“By the time we get to August and September, it’s going to be very dry, so all of the ingredients are there for a devastating wildfire here,” said Weiss. “Then you put on top of that a broken federal government, a broken wildfire response infrastructure—it’s going to be a scary time.”
On May 7, in partnership with other organizations, the Federation of American Scientists launched a new coalition aimed at wildfire prevention and preparedness. The coalition, which includes labor groups and community organizations, will try to address the growing “wildfire crisis,” according to Hannah Safford, the federation’s associate director of climate and environment.
“We have catastrophic mega-fires that are unlike anything that you would have seen 100 years ago, that are causing spending on wildfires to balloon,” said Safford.
Aggressive fire suppression policies have allowed dead trees, brush and other flammable vegetation to accumulate in forests, and that heavy load of fuel will burn uncontrollably when it does ignite, said Safford. Climate change is making arid cycles in forests much dryer, creating ideal conditions for fires to ignite and spread.
FEMA is best known for its presence at the scenes of disasters, where the agency deploys staff who can connect evacuees with financial support for things like short-term housing, and ultimately help the community rebuild after the initial response.
But in recent years, FEMA also offered assistance to communities who wanted to build more resilient infrastructure, which can better protect them when the next disaster strikes. One form this took was the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, established by Congress in 2018 through the Disaster Recovery Reform Act, which was signed into law by Trump. The current Trump administration halted the program in April, calling it “yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program.”
Napa County in California had been awarded a $35 million BRIC grant to help implement its Community Wildfire Protection Plan. The funds would have gone towards “hazardous fuels reduction, ignition-resistant construction, and defensible space treatments to protect vulnerable communities, critical infrastructure, and natural resources,” according to a press release from the county. Napa County has experienced 26 major wildfires in the last decade.
“The acting FEMA administrator states the obvious to Congress—which is that we need FEMA—and then he loses his job the next day,” said Weiss. “That should terrify anyone who lives in the West.”
Cover photo: A member of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue team searches the ruins of a home destroyed by the Eaton Fire on Jan. 11 in Altadena, Calif. Credit: David McNew/Getty Images
