Newport Beach's storm-damaged coast could get backup from a 70-person federal search-and-rescue team funded by a $1.8 million grant headed to the Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA).

The OCFA Board of Directors is scheduled to vote Friday, Sept. 25, on accepting the grant from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), as first reported by Voice of OC. The money funds California Task Force 5 (CA-TF5), a FEMA urban search-and-rescue unit based in Orange County and sponsored by OCFA.

The team draws firefighters from OCFA, the Anaheim Fire Department and the Orange Fire Department. It is one of 28 FEMA task forces nationwide and one of eight in California, trained to pull people from collapsed structures, floods and other disasters.

CA-TF5 is splitting a $56 million federal grant evenly among all 28 teams. Program Manager Mike Yeun told Voice of OC the funding is formula-based and has flowed to the task forces since the 1990s.

"There's really no lobbying or anything because we know we're gonna get the sum of however much divided by 28 … We know what to expect and we know what the budget is gonna be," Yeun told Voice of OC on Sept. 23.

The grant covers administration, training, equipment, and storage and maintenance.

The vote comes four days after Gov. Gavin Newsom declared a statewide emergency on Monday, Sept. 21. Federal forecasters give a greater than 90% chance of a very strong El Niño event this fall and winter, with a 75% chance it could reach historic strength, according to the proclamation. As we reported Sept. 22, the declaration fast-tracked permitting for flood-protection work statewide.

Newport Beach is already repairing damage from Hurricane Marie. The city secured an emergency permit Sept. 21 to gather roughly 200,000 cubic yards of sand from the Santa Ana River to address coastal erosion, according to Patch. A sewer line near Corona del Mar State Beach broke during the storm's high surf, and severe sand erosion hit Balboa Pier and The Wedge.

Laguna Beach, San Clemente and Dana Point have declared local emergencies after high tides battered their coastlines. Seal Beach is preparing to build a 14-foot sand berm.

There is a catch for local residents. If El Niño hits Southern California hard, CA-TF5 itself would not be available here. Its members would already be deployed with their home fire departments. Yeun told Voice of OC that task forces from Northern California and Nevada would likely be pre-positioned to help if a federal emergency were declared.

As of Sept. 23, CA-TF5 was pre-positioned to deploy to Hawaii, where storms and flooding have struck. In 2024, the team assisted during Hurricane Helene, a Category 4 storm that killed more than 250 people across five states.

OCFA is also preparing to send fire engines, rescue personnel or helicopters to other Orange County cities through mutual aid, according to Voice of OC. Dana Point and San Clemente are priorities. The OCFA board meets Friday, Sept. 25.