{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center?ID=14E8752C-4C2B-4AA2-9CCA-6470AF472105", "Sevier County Will Receive Federal Disaster Assistance for Wildfire Recovery  Additional Aid, Other Counties May be Awarded as Damage Assessments Continue", "2016-12-16", "2016", "2016-12", "Republican", "House", "TN", "Scott DesJarlais", "D000616", "desjarlais.house.gov", "desjarlais", "https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center", "scraper", "Nashville, Tenn. \u2013 Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam announced Thursday evening December 15th that Sevier County will receive federal aid assistance through a Presidential Disaster Declaration as the county begins its recovery from the devastating wildfires of Nov. 28, 2016.\n\n\u201cThis deadly wildfire required a coordinated response from many individuals and organizations,\u201d Haslam said. \u201cThe outpouring of care, relief, and support from around the world for Sevier County and its people has been extraordinary. This assistance from the federal government will help relieve some of the financial burden of this disaster on Tennesseans and Sevier County.\u201d\n\nIn his federal disaster assistance request of President Obama on Dec. 9, 2016, Gov. Haslam also asked for the disaster declaration to include four counties \u2013 Coffee, McMinn, Polk, and Sequatchie \u2013 hit with severe weather and tornadoes on Nov. 29, 2016.\n\nFEMA\u2019s disaster declaration this evening indicated the awarding of any additional aid types or inclusion of other jurisdictions will be contingent on further joint preliminary damage assessments.\n\nThrough the Presidential Disaster Declaration, designated as FEMA-4293-DR, Sevier County is eligible for the Federal Emergency Management Agency\u2019s (FEMA) Individual Assistance and Public Assistance programs.\n\nThe Individual Assistance program provides financial help or direct services to disaster survivors who have eligible expenses and serious needs, if they cannot meet those needs through other means. More information on FEMA\u2019s Individual Assistance program is at: https://www.fema.gov/assistance/individual.\n\nFEMA\u2019s Public Assistance program will allow Sevier County government entities and certain private non-profits to apply for reimbursement of specific, eligible expenses for debris removal and emergency protective measures. More information on FEMA\u2019s Public Assistance program is at: https://www.fema.gov/assistance/public.\n\nOn Nov. 28, wildfires rapidly spread through Sevier County, causing mandatory evacuations of Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge. The wildfires caused 14 fatalities and damaged or destroyed more than 2,400 structures in Sevier County. Storms and tornadoes on Nov. 29, 2016, caused two fatalities, and damaged or destroyed numerous structures throughout southeast Tennessee.\n\n###", 1, "2026-03-30T01:40:41Z", "2026-04-08T21:09:43Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://desjarlais.house.gov/media-center?ID=14E8752C-4C2B-4AA2-9CCA-6470AF472105"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.461392268538475, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}