By Jennifer Loven
The Associated Press
WASHINGTON — President Bush mobilized the federal emergency assistance establishment Tuesday on behalf of Southern California officials struggling with devastating wildfires that are forecast to get bigger.
Bush briefly departed from his scheduled war on terror speech at the National Defense University to offer prayers for those losing houses and businesses — or about to.
“All of us across this nation are concerned for the families who have lost their homes and the many families who have been evacuated from their homes,” he said. “We send the help of the federal government.”
Bush spoke Monday with California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. Hours later, just before 4 a.m. EDT, he declared a federal emergency for seven California counties, a move that will speed disaster-relief efforts.
The president also sent top federal disaster officials to California to see what more could be done from Washington. FEMA Administrator R. David Paulison and his boss, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff, were expected to land on the West Coast in early evening. As for a visit from the president himself, White House press secretary Dana Perino said it is “very premature to say.”
“They have an emergency situation and the last thing California needs right now is a trip from the president to take away assets,” she said.
Perino said the federal government is applying lessons learned from a disaster that deeply damaged Bush’s presidency — Hurricane Katrina along the Gulf Coast in 2005 _ to do a better job now.
“Integration, additional communication and cooperation amongst the state, local and federal governments has improved,” she said.
The dozen wildfires in California have burned more than 700 homes and set 245,957 acres — 384 square miles — ablaze. At least 270,000 people have been evacuated. The wildfires have claimed at least one life and injured dozens, many firefighters. Forecasts call for hotter temperatures and high winds that most expect to dramatically increase the destruction.