by Anayeli Ruiz
NewsWest 9
ECTOR COUNTY - A big blow for victims of the West Texas wildfires and those who have been fighting the flames after the Federal Emergency Agency (FEMA) denied any more help for the state. The bill for battling those blazes is huge and the price tag to help families rebuild their homes even greater. NewsWest 9 went to find out how it's going to affect our area.
"The primary interest for West Texas was to be able to recoup the damages that were lost as a result of the wildfires," Ector County Judge, Susan Redford, said.
Since November the State of Texas has responded to more than 9,000 fires. Those fires have burned more than 2 million acres and this number is still growing daily. This puts counties in a bind.
"In Ector County, we don't have that many damages like other counties but we have excess personnel hours that are overtime hours that we are responsible for and we also have fuel cost as the result of the heavy equipment that we have sent to actually help with the fires," Redford said.
For Counties, like Midland, who suffered more damages, that sets them back even more.
"Some of the other counties that have lost structures are losing funding for replacement housing, temporary housing and provisions for those people that are displaced. So their loss is actually quite greater than ours," Redford said.
The federal government has provided money to help fight fires but a disaster declaration would help with the aftermath.
"It's going to put a real strain on county governments, city governments, as well as the individual people that are going to be responsible for basically picking themselves up and rebuilding," Redford said.
The residents, who lost everything in some of these fires, were hopeful that some aid would be coming their way.
"I don't know. Just wait, maybe they'll change their mind and something will happen," Joe Valadez, who lost his home in a fire in Midland County, said.
FEMA says they didn't issue the disaster declaration because they have provided help during the fire season. But that is little consolation to those whose homes were lost to the flames.
"We ain't got no help, no more, so just hate to see anyone else go through it. God will see us through it," Harold Hall, who lost a home in a fire in Midland County, said.
NewsWest 9 talked to the Midland County Judge Mike Bradford and he said he declared Midland County a disaster area with the state. He also said he wasn't sure what money the county would have gotten with the federal disaster declaration anyway. But he says that he fully supports the governor's actions.
The State of Texas is evaluating their position to see if they can appeal.
