US Disaster Declaration Change Monitor

Monitor an explicit US state or territory watchlist for changed public disaster declaration records. The Actor uses one bounded OpenFEMA API query per state or territory, stores a compact baseline, and returns only changed snapshots by default.

What it does

• Accepts explicit two-letter US state or territory codes only; it does not crawl arbitrary URLs, private portals, social accounts, or personal profiles.
• Queries public OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries records for major disaster (DR), emergency (EM), and fire management (FM) declarations.
• Retains a bounded newest-record snapshot per state, including source identifier, declaration identifier, date, type, title, incident type, designated area, program flags, and source refresh time when supplied.
• Persists normalized snapshots by baselineKey to detect declaration availability and metadata changes.
• Returns structured per-state errors instead of terminating a whole watchlist run.
• Omits unchanged state snapshots by default, keeping scheduled datasets compact.

Good use cases

• Business-continuity teams collecting a review queue for explicit operational geographies.
• Logistics and insurance analysts linking public declaration metadata to their own internal assessments.
• Researchers tracking updates to a narrow, known state or territory watchlist.

Input

• stateCodes: required two-letter state or territory codes, for example CA.
• declarationTypes: optional DR, EM, and/or FM; all three are queried by default.
• maxStates: run cap from 1 to 25; v1 defaults to 10.
• maxDeclarationsPerState: bounded newest source records from 1 to 10; v1 defaults to 3.
• includeUnchanged: include unchanged source snapshots after an initial baseline.
• baselineKey: separate stored baselines for environments, clients, or schedules.

Example:

{
  "stateCodes": ["CA"],
  "declarationTypes": ["DR", "EM", "FM"],
  "maxStates": 1,
  "maxDeclarationsPerState": 1,
  "includeUnchanged": false,
  "baselineKey": "production"
}

Output

Each dataset row represents one state or territory snapshot that changed, was explicitly requested as unchanged, or could not be checked.

{
  "stateCode": "CA",
  "checkedAt": "2026-07-10T01:00:00.000Z",
  "status": "ok",
  "changed": true,
  "changeTypes": ["declarations"],
  "declarations": [{
    "sourceId": "5e102152-8ea8-43aa-b282-968eeefc21a0",
    "declarationIdentifier": "EM-3646-CA",
    "disasterNumber": 3646,
    "state": "CA",
    "declarationType": "EM",
    "declarationDate": "2026-05-25T00:00:00.000Z",
    "incidentType": "Chemical"
  }],
  "previousDeclarations": [],
  "sourceUrl": "https://www.fema.gov/api/open/v2/DisasterDeclarationsSummaries?...",
  "snapshotHash": "...",
  "warnings": []
}

status values:

• ok: the source returned usable declaration records.
• not_found: no matching public declaration records were returned.
• partial: usable records were returned but malformed source rows were omitted.
• error: invalid state input or a source failure; inspect warnings for a machine-readable code.

Pricing status

Pay Per Event is enabled at $0.002 per checked jurisdiction using the checked-disaster-declaration-jurisdiction event. Input is capped at 25 state or territory codes, so a full run costs at most $0.05 in event charges. Charging happens before each OpenFEMA source request and stops before the next source request when the Apify event-charge limit is reached.

Source, terms, and limitations

• Source: OpenFEMA Disaster Declarations Summaries v2: https://www.fema.gov/openfema-data-page/disaster-declarations-summaries-v2.
• The source documents an official public API endpoint and a roughly 20-minute update frequency. This Actor uses one fixed-host HTTPS JSON query per explicit state, with a 8-second timeout, two redirect maximum, 256 KiB response cap, and no browser or proxy.
• The source describes this as raw, unedited source data and warns that it can contain a small percentage of human error. Use source metadata as an evidence cue, not as an emergency, eligibility, or operational decision system.
• This Actor does not provide emergency instructions, public-assistance eligibility, safety advice, forecasts, insurance advice, or legal advice. Verify information through official sources and responsible authorities before acting.
• Required OpenFEMA citation and non-endorsement notice: “This product uses the Federal Emergency Management Agency’s OpenFEMA API, but is not endorsed by FEMA. The Federal Government or FEMA cannot vouch for the data or analyses derived from these data after the data have been retrieved from the Agency's website(s).” Cite the dataset endpoint/version and the retrieval date/time (sourceUrl and checkedAt are supplied in each row).
• This is an unofficial independent tool and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by FEMA, DHS, or OpenFEMA. No government seal, logo, or third-party branded asset is used.

Recommended workflow

1. Run once with a stable baselineKey to establish a state snapshot.
2. Schedule later checks with the same key.
3. Keep includeUnchanged=false for a compact change queue.
4. Verify each relevant result via official sources before any operational or policy decision.