SARASOTA COUNTY, Fla. — With FEMA in the Trump Administration’s crosshairs, Florida’s top emergency management official said Floridians need not worry ahead of the upcoming hurricane season.
Kevin Guthrie, the Executive Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, said whether FEMA is eliminated or not, the state’s hurricane response will remain the same.
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“What the governor is going to do, what I’m going to do underneath his direction is we’re going to continue to perform at a very high level for the residents of Florida,” Guthrie told ABC Action News Thursday, after attending a hurricane preparation workshop in Sarasota.
Department of Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and President Donald Trump have both said they favor dismantling the agency.
Thursday, the acting FEMA administrator, Cam Hamilton, was fired a day after he contradicted both Noem and Trump by testifying he was not in favor of dismantling FEMA.
In a recent Truth Social post, President Trump said FEMA’s power needs to return to the states.
“States and locals need to do more. I agree with that premise,” Guthrie said Thursday.
According to Guthrie, Florida has been practicing that premise for decades, which is why he believes a potential shift in federal emergency response would mean little to the Sunshine State.
Though Guthrie said Florida uses FEMA “extensively,” he said the overwhelming majority of resources Florida needs to respond to hurricanes and disasters come from within the state or partnering states.
The president recently appointed Guthrie, Tampa Mayor Jane Castor, and 11 others to serve on the newly-created FEMA Review Council, which will ponder FEMA’s future role: how it should be streamlined, how it should be reformed, and if it should be eliminated.
“I definitely believe that there should be some changes,” Guthrie told ABC Action News. “The complexity of FEMA we do need to streamline.”
However, whether FEMA is eliminated or not, Guthrie thinks the federal government will still need an “emergency management function” to respond to “truly catastrophic events.” He said President Trump does not disagree with that idea.
“He has said he wants to be there for Americans on their worst day — on the truly catastrophic stuff,” Guthrie said. “He has never said, ‘I want to never fund anybody on the worst day — on these Cat 5 hurricanes.’ He’s never said that.”
Guthrie told the crowd in Sarasota that he welcomes Floridians' ideas and will advocate for the state’s interests while serving on the president’s council.
“I’m looking forward to getting in and diving in and seeing what we might be able to make as suggestions back to the President of the United States,” he said.
“It's a little nerve-wracking.”
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