Chertoff: Lessons from Katrina being applied to fire response

[Lerkfish]

Source: CNN

"I think there's no question that a couple of the lessons from Katrina which we have put into effect here," Chertoff said.

"First of all, planning and preparation in advance for these kinds of challenges, so that we have worked together and planned together with the Defense Department and with state authorities well in advance of the crisis. That's been a big help here," Chertoff said before boarding a California-bound Coast Guard jet with Federal Emergency Management Agency Director David Paulison; Mark Everson, president and CEO of the American Red Cross; and Matt Bettenhausen, homeland security adviser to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

"Second, we have really flooded the zone as quickly as possible by staging assets to deal both with the firefighting issue and with the response issue," Chertoff said. Watch Chertoff discuss the federal response »

Federal emergency agencies and the White House were heavily criticized for their slow response to Katrina. But White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said that since then "integration, additional communication and cooperation amongst the state, local and federal governments have improved."

Read more: http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/10/23/fire.fema/index.html

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yeah, good thing we sacrificed all those poor black people FIRST.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. And those lessons are

1. Let the disaster destroy the area.

2. Quickly rebuild the rich neighborhoods.

3. Let the poor neighborhoods fester until the people who used to live there give up all hope and abandon their property.

4. Let the rich come in and buy the abandoned property at ahem fire sale prices and build even more McMansions and drive the area house prices even higher while the poor who used to live there can only look on helplessly.

5. Await the next disaster and hope it is in a really nice location.

[0xDEADBEEF]

7. Lessons Learned...

"I don't think anyone anticipated the trees catching fire."

[Gormy Cuss]

2. Lessons Learned: 1.Chertoff is not qualified for his job.

2. Kanye West said it best:
"George Bush doesn't care about black people"

[dickbearton]

18. Chertoff is qualified...

Qualified to hang along side Bush and Chaney for treason.

[kestrel91316]

21. Thank you.

[Ian David]

3. And hundreds of people are being evacuated on the backs of Arabian horses! n/t

[aquart]

4. They can ride 'em or truck 'em or leave 'em to burn.

Your preference? (You should know the trucks are in short supply.)

[Ian David]

5. I'm not going to play the blame game, but why didn't Governor Dinglehopper send the busses? n/t

[aquart]

23. The trouble with inept epithets, I can't tell if you're insulting

A Republican or a Democrat. Or, if it comes to it...why.

[ohio2007]

22. Canada prepares to bomb California !

Privately owned B.C. water bomber flying to fight California fires
VICTORIA - The world's largest water bomber, the Canadian-owned Martin Mars, is being scrambled to help fight southern California's rampant wildfires.

One of two Mars owned by Couson Aviation of Port Alberni, B.C., the last of their kind, is being sent south on a private contract although no formal request was received from California officials through the Winnipeg-based Interagency Forest Fire Centre.

"They're still able to fill the orders they have with U.S. assets," Dave Okavay, the agency's aviation manager, said Tuesday.

The Second World War-era flying boat is being sent to the San Diego area.

The giant four-engine planes, originally designed as long-range troop and cargo carriers, are familiar but still awesome sights fighting wildfires in B.C. forests.



snip

[Tempest]

6. Lesson learned? LET LOCAL OFFICIALS HANDLE IT

FEMA is late to the party.

[Joanne98]

17. I agree!

[Donnachaidh]

8. lesson learned -- Better have a plan in place when wealthy white people are involved

Or be a *real* humanitarian and include white people of all means. :sarcasm:

[rodeodance]

9. For the sake of the families, I hope so.

[blitzen]

10. Lessons learned: Start the positive PR blitz immediately; get the compliant media...

to invent and endlessly reiterate myths about the "good people" of San Diego vs. the "bad people" of New Orleans

[freethought]

11. Golly, that makes me feel so much better.

Don't you?
:sarcasm: :sarcasm:

[applegrove]

12. Oh great! They are treating California's disaster as a DO AGAIN.

[bpeale]

13. all right now. this is truly scaring me

[XemaSab]

14. Sitting there with your thumb in your ass is a fun way to ride out a disaster?

Is that the lesson?

'Cause I think they're getting an A on the test. :P

[ohio2007]

20. that kind of "hindsite" is 20/20

big difference between NO and SD
on edit, I heard the SD Chargers game may be relocated because the special sections with rooms and bathrooms for the super rich to sit are all reserved for the elderly and infirmed.

[sutz12]

15. Some people learned the 'lessons of Katrina' 20 years ago....

when FEMA was one of those hated Liberal agencies of the government that actually worked.

Nice of you to try and keep up, though, Chertie. :shrug:

[Joanne98]

16. Homeland Security MISSION CREEP!

Chertoff is so busy finding any excuse to expand police powers in the US he doesn't even have time to look for terrorists! We need to demand that FEMA be MOVED out of the Homeland. This is bullshit!

[ohio2007]

19. California has the infrastructure to evacuate due to weather driven fires

New Orleans didn't have or properly use the infrastructure they had in place.

The difference between the blue states is that people on the west coast are highly mobile and well connected.

[ForPeace]

24. So ... Chertoff has learned to flood the zone as quickly as possible

Works for fires ... but didn't work too well for New Orleans -did it?

[Hekate]

25. What? "No more water, the fire next time"? Nobody's going to trust FEMA for a long, long time....

ESPECIALLY as long as it remains under the umbrella of Homeland Security.

Hekate