It’s a particular concern given that the high season for hurricanes and forest fires is only getting started.

In testimony last month before the House Committee on Homeland Security, Peter Gaynor, FEMA’s acting administrator, estimated the agency remains short by more than 2,000 people. “It has been a struggle for FEMA to make sure that we have enough disaster responders in reserve,” Mr. Gaynor said.

FEMA’s strained staffing levels are all the more notable after federal watchdogs rebuked the agency for not having enough people to respond to the disasters of 2017. “FEMA’s available work force was overwhelmed,” the nonpartisan Government Accountability Office concluded after that year’s storms.

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The staff shortages that year forced the agency to move people into jobs they were ill-suited for, the office found, delaying the time it took to get assistance to survivors. At one point in 2017, more than half of FEMA staff were serving in roles that the agency itself had not designated them qualified to perform.

Chris Currie, who leads the accountability office’s work on emergency management , said he is worried about what would happen if FEMA were again faced with a sequence of events similar to 2017, or even a single major catastrophe. “They’re already stretched,” he said.