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County staff say FMAG approval will ease costs; commissioners authorize $50,000 for immediate expenses
Summary
Staff told commissioners FMAG approval shifts most eligible costs to FEMA and the State; Commissioner Harberd provided a verbal $50,000 spending authorization to the Emergency Manager to cover immediate fire response costs while formal paperwork is completed.
County and state emergency staff told the Board of County Commissioners that a Fire Management Assistance Grant (FMAG) request had been approved and could be backdated to Aug. 1, 2026, to capture eligible expenses.
Adam Gonzalez of the Idaho Office of Emergency Management said the FMAG approval ‘‘backdates because if there's any other expenses the county was accruing and that's an overtime expenses, fuel, different things like that are also covered under that FMAG.’’ Emergency Manager Johnny Biddinger explained that FMAG changes the cost-share for eligible resources so FEMA would cover 75%, the State 15% and Washington County 10%.
To enable immediate response actions, Biddinger said he obtained a verbal spending authorization from Commissioner Jim Harberd. Biddinger read a copy of the authorization on the record: "I Jim Harberd, Washington County Commissioner, authorized $50,000 to Johnny Biddinger, Emergency Manager, for expenses incurred during the Tartar Fire, effective immediately on this day 8/2/2026." Commissioners directed staff to track overtime, equipment time and fuel for reimbursement under FMAG and to forward documentation to the county recovery section for follow-up.
