When a state is overwhelmed by an emergency or major disaster, the governor may request assistance from the federal government. In general, when a request is submitted, representatives from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) meet with the state and compile a Preliminary Damage Assessment (PDA). FEMA then makes a recommendation to the President concerning whether a declaration should be issued. The President has the authority to make the declaration or deny the request. In comparison to when disaster declarations were first introduced in 1953, the average number of declarations issued per year has increased. The average number of major disaster declarations issued per year in the 1960s (the first full decade for declarations) was roughly 18.6. In contrast, from 2000 to 2009 the average number of declarations issued per year was 57.1. Calendar year 2011 was the busiest year on record with 97 major disaster declarations. Congressional concern over the rising number of declarations is primarily focused on their associated costs because once declared, the majority of disaster relief costs (at least 75%) are shifted from the state to the federal government. The current fiscal environment, including concern over the federal deficit, has heightened congressional interest in the costs of disasters, leading to proposals to offset some portion of disaster assistance spending by implementing new budgetary mechanisms. The increase in declarations has led some critics to argue that thresholds for issuing major disaster declarations are set too low, allowing too many "marginal incidents" to receive a declaration. Related criticisms and questions have been voiced concerning the declarations process. For example, are incidents increasing or is the federal government being more generous in its interpretation of disaster or emergency criteria? Another point of discussion is the relative capacity of state governments to respond to disaster events. The federal government's openness in describing factors considered for declarations may have led some state officials to believe they have met the factors under consideration and are entitled to support. This report provides a historical overview of the three categories of declarations, including the average number of declarations declared and turned down, and the distribution of declarations by incident type and state. This report discusses a wide range of factors that might be contributing to the increase in declarations and provides policy options that might reduce the number of declarations and some of their associated costs. Prior to 1950, state and local governments in need of federal assistance after a disaster had to wait until Congress met, debated, and then acted upon their request for disaster assistance. The Federal Disaster Relief Act of 1950 (P.L. 81-875, hereinafter the Disaster Relief Act) altered this arrangement and transferred the authority to provide federal disaster assistance from Congress to the President. Under the Disaster Relief Act, the President had the authority to decide whether to provide disaster assistance and which federal agencies would provide that assistance. The President's decision to provide federal aid for an incident is known as a "declaration." The first disaster declaration was issued by President Eisenhower on May 2, 1953, for damages caused by a tornado in Georgia. Over the years, the Disaster Relief Act has undergone a series of reforms and amendments, but the President's authority to issue declarations has been retained. Today the principal authority governing federal assistance for emergencies and major disasters in the United States is the Robert T. Stafford Relief and Emergency Assistance Act ( P.L. 93-288 , hereinafter the Stafford Act). Under the Stafford Act, the primary federal agency responsible for coordinating the federal response is FEMA, located within the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). The Stafford Act authorizes three types of declarations: (1) Fire Management Assistance Grant Program (FMAG) declarations, (2) emergency declarations, and (3) major disaster declarations. While emergency and major disaster declarations must be issued by the President, the FEMA Regional Director, in consultation with FEMA leadership, has the authority to issue FMAG declarations. A detailed description of each type of declaration is provided in the following sections of this report. The Stafford Act stipulates several procedural actions a governor must take prior to requesting federal disaster assistance. The governor cannot request a declaration unless he or she determines the event has overwhelmed the state's resources to such an extent that federal resources are needed. The gubernatorial request is vital to the declaration process because the President cannot issue either an emergency or a major disaster declaration, nor can the Regional Director issue an FMAG, without the request. The only exception to this rule is the authority given to the President to declare an emergency when the President determines that an emergency exists for which the primary responsibility for response rests with the United States because the emergency involves a subject area for which, under the Constitution or laws of the United States, the United States can exercise exclusive or preeminent responsibility and authority The denial of a gubernatorial request for federal assistance is referred to as a "turndown." The following sections of this report analyze declarations by category since 1953. The analysis includes the number of FMAG, emergency, and major disaster declarations that have been approved and turned down by the President. The analysis also includes a breakdown of declarations by incident and by state for emergency and major disaster declarations. The presentation of the data is based on graduated levels of assistance beginning with FMAG declarations and ending with major disaster declarations. As mentioned previously, while the President has the sole authority to issue an emergency or major disaster declaration, the decision to issue an FMAG declaration can be rendered either by the President or a FEMA Regional Director. An FMAG declaration authorizes various forms of federal assistance, such as equipment, personnel, and grants to any state or local government for the control, management, and mitigation of any fire on public or private forest land or grassland that might become a major disaster. FMAG declarations do not provide assistance to individuals and households. One distinguishing feature of FMAGs is that they are intended to prevent a fire from becoming a major disaster. An additional unique feature of an FMAG is FEMA's work with a "Principal Advisor." This is an individual appointed by the Forest Service, United States Department of Agriculture, or Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior, who is responsible for providing FEMA with a technical assessment of the fire or fire complex for which a state is requesting a fire management assistance declaration. As with emergency and major disaster declarations, FEMA has the authority to assess the situation, including the state's efforts, the current state of the fire, and its potential impact. However, before an FMAG can be granted, the state or territory must meet a cost threshold, either for that particular fire or for a cumulative state-wide threshold number if the state is requesting help for numerous fires within the state. The following criteria are used to evaluate wildfires and make a determination whether to issue an FMAG: The threat to lives and property including critical facilities, infrastructures, and watershed areas; the availability of state and local fire resources; high fire danger conditions based on nationally accepted indices such as the National Fire Danger Ratings System; and the potential economic impacts of the fire. In addition, FEMA uses two types of fire cost thresholds to help determine if a state or tribal nation is eligible for fire assistance: (1) individual thresholds for a single fire, and (2) cumulative thresholds for multiple fires. Cumulative thresholds are applied to multiple fires burning simultaneously or the accumulation of multiple fires in a single fire season. Threshold amounts vary by state (see Table 1 for selected examples and the Appendix for a complete list of states). The formula for the individual fire threshold is the state population multiplied by 5%, which is then multiplied by $1.43. In general, if that amount exceeds the state's individual fire threshold, the state is eligible for federal assistance. For example, the state of Pennsylvania's population, according to the most recent decennial census, is 12,702,379. The individual fire threshold formula for the state is: [12,702,379 x 5% x $1.43 = $908,220]. Therefore, the state of Pennsylvania would meet or exceed the individual fire threshold if it had a wildfire costing $908,220 or more in damages. The formula for the cumulative fire threshold for a given state is one of two amounts—$500,000 or the amount of that state's individual fire threshold multiplied by three, whichever is greater. Returning to the Pennsylvania example, the sum of three individual fire thresholds equals $2,724,660. Since that amount is larger than $500,000, cumulative fire damages in Pennsylvania must meet or exceed $2,724,660 to be eligible for assistance. In contrast, the individual fire threshold for Alaska is $100,000, but the cumulative threshold is $500,000, not the sum of three individual fire thresholds ($300,000). For some states, such as West Virginia, the state population is high enough that the individual threshold exceeds $100,000. However, the cumulative threshold for these states is $500,000 because that number is still higher than the sum of three individual fire thresholds. As shown in Figure 1 , FMAG declarations began to increase in the late 1990s, reaching a high of 114 in 2011. This surpassed the previous high of 86 FMAGs in 2006. As mentioned previously, FMAGS are designed to prevent fires from becoming major disasters. It could be argued that even though the number of FMAG declarations has increased, FMAGs may actually save federal dollars by reducing the need for a major disaster declaration and, in turn, decreasing spending on Stafford Act programs. As shown in Figure 1 , the first FMAG was declared in 1970, though FMAGs were rarely issued until the 1990s. The average numbers of FMAGs declared in the 1970s and the 1980s were 3.8 and 3.5, respectively. During the 1990s, there were an average of 21.6 FMAG declarations per year (see inset of Figure 1 ). This upward trend continued into the 2000s, with an average of 55.2 FMAG declarations issued each year.