"Brenda and Francis Dairy's small ranch house, tucked into the Oregon woods, was built to withstand a wildfire. The siding was concrete, the roof metal. It didn't matter. On Sept. 7 of last year, as the sky turned dark orange and the air grew thick with smoke, flames tore through nearby trees and engulfed the house entirely.
The Beachie Creek Fire destroyed the life that the Dairys had built for themselves in the small town of Gates. Brenda Dairy had spent her free time sewing quilts. Her husband, a disabled veteran, carved wood pens in his shop.
After the fire, they bounced between relatives' houses for a while. But they needed a more stable place to live and a way to pay for it, so they went to the government agency set up to help: the Federal Emergency Management Agency."
Sean McMinn and April Ehrlich report for NPR July 1, 2021.
SEE ALSO:
"Why FEMA Aid Is Unavailable To Many Who Need It The Most" (NPR)
"Lower-Income Survivors Are Less Likely To Get FEMA Aid After Disaster, Documents Show" (NPR)
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