The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is working in partnership with the local, state, and federal response to the November 2018 Northern California wildfire in Butte County. Our number one priority continues to be the life, health and safety of all who were affected by the fires.

USACE has deployed a team of engineers and subject matter experts from across the nation to the California State Emergency Operations Center to support the State and FEMA in the wildfire recovery efforts.

Under its current mission assignments from FEMA, USACE is assisting with the design for temporary housing sites for residents displaced by the fires.

USACE is also developing plans for a temporary debris handling facility that will support the State’s debris removal efforts by staging, reducing and transporting non-hazardous material (concrete and metal) for recycling and disposal.

The California Governor's Office of Emergency Services (CalOES) is handling the private property debris removal mission. Information about the debris removal program is available by visiting California Wildfire Recovery.Org

When disasters occur, USACE teams and other resources are mobilized from across the country to assist our local districts and offices to deliver our response missions.

• USACE has more than 50 specially-trained response teams supported by emergency contracts to perform a wide range of public works and engineering-related support missions.
•  USACE uses pre-awarded contracts that can be quickly activated for missions such as debris removal, temporary roofing, commodities distribution, and generator installation.
• Every year, USACE, as part of the federal government’s unified national response to disasters and emergencies, deploys hundreds of people to provide technical engineering expertise and to promote capacity development at home and abroad. 
• In 2017, USACE had 5,731 personnel deployments in response to one or more of 59 disaster declarations.