Thousands of federal responders are on the ground in Florida to help communities recovering from Hurricane Ian's catastrophic damage. 

The destruction resulting from Ian, which hit Florida as a Category 4 storm, will likely keep FEMA "on the ground for years, not weeks or months," Dr. Melissa Forbes, FEMA’s assistant administrator for response and recovery, told Spectrum News in a recent interview.

What You Need To Know

  • The destruction resulting from Hurricane Ian, which hit Florida as a Category 4 storm, will likely keep FEMA "on the ground for years, not weeks or months," Dr. Melissa Forbes, FEMA’s assistant administrator for response and recovery, told Spectrum News in a recent interview

  • As of now, FEMA is currently operating 13 disaster recovery centers in the Florida counties hardest hit by Hurricane Ian

  • Of FEMA's 20,000 employees nationwide, about 8,000 are reservists; Right now, there are about a thousand reservists in Florida helping with the disaster response

  • FEMA has faced a shortage of these workers in the past, but President Joe Biden recently signed bipartisan legislation to help address that; The bill protects on-call workers against being fired from their day jobs when they respond to a FEMA emergency

As of now, FEMA is currently operating 13 disaster recovery centers in the Florida counties hardest hit by Hurricane Ian. Agency officials say FEMA operates with a "flexible" workforce unlike other areas of the government. 

"We have thousands of people on the ground in Florida, responding to disasters. A number of those folks are permanent, full-time federal employees and a number of them are part of what we call our reservist 'cadre,'" Leiloni Stainsby, FEMA Office of Response & Recovery Assistant Administrator of Field Operations Directorate, said.  

FEMA Reservists​ are the agency's on-call, intermittent employees. They typically have other jobs when not deployed to respond to emergencies. Of FEMA's 20,000 employees nationwide, about 8,000 are reservists. Right now, there are about a thousand reservists in Florida helping with the disaster response.

FEMA has faced a shortage of these workers in the past, but President Joe Biden recently signed bipartisan legislation to help address that; The bill protects on-call workers against being fired from their day jobs when they respond to a FEMA emergency. Military reservists have similar protections.

"When you’re called up to help with a disaster, you can now focus on that mission without worrying you might lose your job — your day job — or receive some other penalty at work because of this national service. That’s what the CREW Act guarantees," President Biden said in late September.  

President Biden and supporters say this will help with recruitment and strengthen FEMA. To expand its disaster response, FEMA hires locally and also receives help from other federal partners. 

"We also have something called the Department of Homeland Security's surge capacity force program, which allows us to use interagency partners from across the federal government who come to support FEMA, as we support the states and locals," Stainsby said.