Fire disaster declaration may be too late for aid

TWIN FALLS, Idaho – Jerome County commissioners in Southern Idaho are preparing to declare the county a disaster area in an attempt to get federal money to help farmers and ranchers who lost fences, cattle, range and cropland to a fire nearly four months ago.

But federal officials say the declaration would be too late at this point to do any good.

“If this declaration has something to do with the fire, it should have been done at the time of the fire,” said Gary Davis, a central Idaho coordinator for the federal Department of Homeland Security.

The Red Bridge Fire started July 6 and burned about 70 square miles, destroying 43 power poles and knocking out power to some areas.

Commission Chairman Charlie Howell said there’s a chance money might be available for ranchers and farmers if the county appeals to the governor’s office with a disaster declaration. The commission could sign the resolution next week.

“If there’s a chance there is relief available, we’ll pursue it,” Howell said.

Disaster declarations can lead to relief money through the Farm Service Agency and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. But Tom Snow, executive director for Jerome County’s Farm Service Agency, said four months is too long ago to get money now.

“I’m not going to be able to help these guys out a bit,” he said. “The commissioners just weren’t aware of what they needed to do.”

Commissioner Diana Obenauer agreed that the commission should have acted sooner.

“We didn’t do anything about it (then) because we didn’t know we could do anything about it,” she said.

Clint Blackwood, who heads Jerome County Disaster Services, said he’s not sure why commissioners are acting now.

He said that during the fire he was busy coordinating disaster services with other counties and didn’t talk to the commissioners about declaring the county a disaster area at that time.