A Federal Emergency Management Agency supervisor has been fired and is being investigated for telling team members not to inspect homes in a hurricane-ravaged Florida town that had signs supporting Donald Trump’s campaign, the agency said.
The incident occurred as an unidentified FEMA official was surveying the damage Hurricane Milton Florida and told their associates to avoid homes with the signs, the agency said in a statement.
FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell called the incident “reprehensible.”
In this Oct. 13, 2024, file photo, a FEMA truck is seen in St. Parked near the debris and damage from Hurricane Milton in Pete Beach, Fla.
Via MediaPunch/IPx AP, FILE
“This is a clear violation of FEMA’s core values and principles of helping people regardless of political affiliation,” he said in a statement.
The supervisor has been terminated and the matter has been turned over to FEMA’s Office of Special Counsel, according to Criswell.
In this Oct. 7, 2024, file photo, a box of drinking water distributed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) sits at an apartment damaged by Hurricane Helene before Hurricane Milton’s expected landfall in Treasure Island, Fla., mid-week.
Bryan R. Smith/AFP via Getty Images, FILE
“This type of behavior and actions will not be tolerated at FEMA and we will hold people accountable if they violate these standards of conduct,” he said.
“I will continue to do everything I can to prevent this from happening again,” Criswell added.
