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Vice President-elect JD Vance spent Friday afternoon in Western North Carolina, where he toured storm damage, received updates on recovery efforts and thanked first responders in the wake of Hurricane Helene. Vance began the afternoon at the Fairview Volunteer Fire Department, where he met with first responders and thanked them for their response to the storm. He also met with the family of Battalion Chief Tony Ray Garrison, who died while rescuing victims of a landslide caused by Helene. The VP-elect toured the fire department, which flooded during the storm, and saw images of the devastation in the area. Vance also visited a home in Fairview that was destroyed by the hurricane and is now the site of a Samaritans Purse recovery project. As the VP-elect spoke to reporters after the meeting with the family and touring the home, he reiterated that he has not forgotten about the people of Western North Carolina.I know that a lot of the people in these neck of the woods feel left behind, and I just wanted to make them feel that their government leaders actually care about them because they do, said Vance. And certainly when this administration changes hands in the next 45 days, we’re going to do everything we can to help people rebuild, to get them back on their feet, to bring some commerce back to this area, but most importantly, to allow people to live in their homes and do what they need to do.Sens. Thom Tillis and Ted Budd of North Carolina joined Vance on his tour. The VP-elect spoke on their efforts to work with the Biden administration and the Federal Emergency Management Agency to try to provide waivers that allow mobile homes to be placed in areas that are now deemed flood areas.”The argument here is that you can’t allow people to put mobile homes on a flood plain or an area that has the risk of flood damage, said Vance. Well, that’s pretty much this entire area an area the state of Massachusetts. If you don’t grant a waiver, you’re effectively telling people they’ve got to move hundreds of miles away two weeks before Christmas. It’s ridiculous. Its atrocious, and we need a government that responds quickly to the needs of its citizens.”Vance continued on to say that its “bureaucratic red tape” that is slowing the process. I dont believe that the officials of the Biden administration are intentionally doing bad things. But its bureaucratic red tape. Its slowness. Its a bureaucracy that is moving at the speed of a glacier when what you need is people to respond to the concerns of the people of Western North Carolina, he said. The VP-elect said one of his primary concerns is the communications infrastructure in the country.It is frankly a disgrace given that we have Starlink, given that we have access to modern technology, that we had so many people unable to communicate with law enforcement, with EMS services and with their loved ones weeks after this storm hit, he said. But Vance said that, despite the grief and devastation that Western North Carolina is experiencing, he does see hope.”We have the best country, and we have the best people, said Vance. And the Appalachian people of North Carolina, I think, are the very best of a very great country.”