FEMA’s national situation report for 5:00 p.m. Eastern on Thursday, Oct. 15, lists eight disaster-declaration requests still in process: the Confederated Tribes and Bands of the Yakama Nation, the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, an Idaho appeal, Indiana, Kansas, a Nebraska appeal, the Rosebud Sioux Tribe and Washington. Together they run from the Pacific Northwest to the Great Plains and the Midwest.
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Five are initial requests and two are appeals, and the report states no incident types or request dates, so those details have to come from the states and tribes themselves.
The Oct. 15 situation report entry
The entry reads “Declaration Requests in Process: 8” in the FEMA National Situation Report, which the agency publishes twice daily, at 3:00 a.m. and 5:00 p.m. Eastern. The report abbreviates the three tribal entries as CTBYN1, CTCR2 and RST3 and defines them in footnotes as the Yakama Nation, the Colville Reservation and the Rosebud Sioux Tribe. Idaho and Nebraska are marked as appeals, which means each state asked FEMA to reconsider an earlier decision. The section for newly declared disasters appears in the report with no entries beneath it.
Three of the eight lines concern Washington geography: the Yakama Nation and the Colville Reservation lie inside the state, and the state has its own entry. Public records tie all three to the wildfire emergency that began in late July and early August, though the situation report itself does not. On Aug. 4, Fox 13 Seattle reported that President Trump had approved an emergency declaration covering Chelan, Ferry, Okanogan, Spokane, Stevens and Yakima counties and three tribes: the Yakama Nation, the Colville Reservation and the Spokane Tribe of Indians.
The Yakama Nation’s own emergency resolution, issued July 27 after the Signal Peak Fire (July 24) and Ransier Fire (July 26) burned more than 3,000 acres around White Swan, asked FEMA, the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the state for strike teams, matching declarations and financial aid. The notice does not say which federal request the tribe filed afterward, so the situation report’s entry may involve a different filing.
Washington, Kansas, Nebraska and Indiana: the state requests
Gov. Bob Ferguson submitted Washington’s request on Sept. 28. His office’s announcement says the fires destroyed 649 primary residences, damaged 2,542 homes and burned nearly 369,000 acres, and it seeks individual assistance in four counties and for the Spokane Tribe of Indians, with an estimated $11.2 million for residents’ emergency costs, plus public assistance estimated at $117.7 million. “Whole neighborhoods are gone, and communities have been changed forever,” Ferguson said.
Kansas is the second state on the list. Gov. Laura Kelly’s request, announced by the Kansas Adjutant General’s Department on July 30, covers severe thunderstorms, straight-line winds, tornadoes, hail and flooding between June 4 and 15 across 30 counties plus the Iowa Tribe of Kansas and Nebraska and the Kickapoo Tribe in Kansas, and asks for public assistance in Categories A through G and statewide hazard mitigation. Kelly said it is critical that federal resources are made available so that those communities can rebuild.
The situation report does not say which Nebraska storm lies behind its appeal. The Nebraska Examiner reported on June 18 that Gov. Jim Pillen had requested a declaration for the May 15 to 18 tornadoes, straight-line winds and flash flooding in Buffalo, Fillmore, Gage, Howard, Jefferson, Nemaha, Thayer and Thurston counties, with damage above $4.9 million. That article reports no decision, so whether the appeal concerns this request is not established.
Indiana is the hardest entry to match. Gov. Mike Braun asked for a major disaster declaration on Aug. 20 for 54 counties after storms that began Aug. 11, as the Indiana Capital Chronicle reported, and President Trump granted it on Aug. 25 as FEMA-4933-DR, with individual assistance in 21 counties and public assistance in 11. Hazard mitigation designations were still under review, and Rep. Mrvan’s office said more designations could follow if the state asks. The pending Indiana line may therefore be a supplemental request.
Idaho, Rosebud Sioux and a Pacific storm competing for staff
No public record found for this article ties the Idaho appeal or the Rosebud Sioux Tribe’s request to a named incident, and neither is described here beyond what the situation report states. An appeal in this process is a second look at a request FEMA has already turned down, which means Idaho and Nebraska are both waiting on a second answer rather than a first.
The same report shows FEMA’s attention is divided. Tropical Storm Champi was 800 miles east-southeast of Guam and moving toward it, with typhoon and flood watches in effect for Guam, Rota, Tinian and Saipan, 5 to 10 inches of rain possible, and tropical-storm-force winds most likely late Saturday evening into Sunday. FEMA had its Incident Support Base Delta in Guam, and the Hawaii support team and a national incident management team, N-IMAT Red, were due on Oct. 16. Region 9 and headquarters operations centers were scheduled to activate that day.
This article was produced with the assistance of AI and reviewed by Morning Overview editors prior to publication.
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