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The White House
Today, President Biden convened a meeting with Governors from Western States, Cabinet and agency officials, and energy sector partners to discuss the critical need to work together to strengthen prevention, preparedness and response efforts for this wildfire season, which is on track to outpace last season. In the meeting, the President emphasized the importance of making much-needed investments to prepare our country to do everything we can to address the growing and severe threat of wildfires and save lives. The President highlighted the series of actions his Administration is taking immediately to respond to wildfires this year, including making substantial investments in our firefighter personnel, increasing Federal firefighter pay and providing access to retention incentives, and extending the hiring of temporary firefighters to ensure a more effective response throughout this year’s fire season. The President also shared how the Biden Administration is improving our wildfire response capabilities including through the use of new technologies, and helping vulnerable communities mitigate the impact of fires through new funding. President Biden announced a $37 million grant award to California to support fire mitigation efforts as part of FEMA’s new Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program. Last month, President Biden announced the Administration will double funding for the program to $1 billion next year in order to invest in pre-disaster resilience and mitigation resources and help strengthen the ability of communities, families, and businesses to withstand extreme weather events and other disasters.