Source: POLITICO'S MORNING AGRICULTURE, 4/24/19

FEMA should focus its efforts on the "truly catastrophic events" and rely on state and local governments to manage lesser disasters, one of the agency's top officials said Wednesday during a POLITICO Live event on disaster relief.

Daniel Kaniewski, FEMA's deputy administrator for resilience, said about 80 percent of the major disasters the agency handles cost $41 million or less. In many cases, local officials simply need federal funding rather than a physical FEMA presence, Pro Energy's Zack Colman reports.

But emergency funding doesn't come easily these days. When Congress returns from a two-week recess on Monday, one of its most pressing priorities will be finding a path forward on disaster aid for states still recovering from hurricanes, wildfires, floods and other severe weather, which stalled in the Senate earlier this month.

Worsening wildfires? Other officials at the event noted that wildfire season is beginning months earlier, and wider swaths of Western states are now at risk.

"It's happening all throughout the spring, and what used to be a couple of times every three to four years is now an annual event of catastrophic, historic wildfires," said Trevor Riggen, senior director of disaster operations at the American Red Cross.