VP Harris heading to California to announce federal funding for wildfire recovery

JOINT BASE ANDREWS, Maryland - Vice President Kamala Harris boarded Air Force 2 at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland Friday morning heading west to her home state of California.

The Vice President will make a visit to San Bernardino Friday to announce hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding coming to California for wildfire recovery efforts. Harris will make the announcement while visiting a fire station in San Bernardino. The federal government is expected to send $600 million in funding to the state for recovery efforts from the 2021 wildfire season, one of the most devastating on record.

CALFIRE reports over 2.56 million acres burned in California wildfires last year. There were 8,835 wildfires which destroyed a total of 3,629 structures.

Harris will be making the visit with Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, where she will be highlighting the $1 trillion infrastructure bill signed by President Joe Biden in November, which includes $50 billion for wildfire prevention efforts.