Cortez Masto Secures Over $5 Million to Help Nevada Continue to Recover from the Davis Fire

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) secured $5,401,451.29 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to reimburse state and county funds that were spent combating the Davis Fire. The wildfire burned nearly 6,000 acres in Northern Nevada, destroyed 13 residential structures, and cost millions of dollars to suppress. Senator Cortez Masto strongly advocated for this FEMA funding to ensure firefighting costs were paid back to Nevada so the state can continue its critical fire suppression and prevention work.

“Thanks to the tireless efforts of Nevada’s brave wildland firefighters and National Guardsmen, no lives were lost in the Davis Fire and thousands of homes were saved,” said Senator Cortez Masto. “But fighting a wildfire of that scale had a high cost for our state. I’m proud to have helped recoup millions of dollars that Nevada and Washoe County spent suppressing the Davis Fire, and I’m going to keep fighting to ensure that the money Nevada needs gets to our state quickly and isn’t held up by politics.”

The $5.4 million in FEMA funding covers 75 percent of the total amount that the Nevada Division of Forestry, the Truckee Meadows Water Authority, and Washoe County each spent combatting the Davis Fire. The funding Senator Cortez Masto secured will be divided between the three entities as follows:

• $4,863,362.85 for the Nevada Division of Forestry;
• $167,053.67 for the Truckee Meadows Water Authority; and
• $371,034.77 for Washoe County.

As the only Nevada Senator on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, Senator Cortez Masto has consistently fought to advance policies that prevent wildfires and support communities as they recover from them. She has led legislation to provide resources to prevent wildfires, enhance firefighting efforts, and support communities impacted by increasingly severe wildfire seasons and to use strategic grazing to cut down on hazardous fuels. Cortez Masto has pushed the Department of the Interior and the United States Forest Service to reinstate the vital Women in Wildfire Bootcamp program. She fought against President Donald Trump and Elon Musk’s efforts to gut funding for wildfire prevention and subject seasonal firefighters to a federal hiring freeze.  

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