The New FEMA

There is an effort to recast FEMA as bouncing back from Katrina. How you judge that is based on not words, but how they respond.

I got the following information from Garry Briese, Regional Administrator for FEMA Region VIII in Colorado. I had commented to him about the tornado that hit Colorado. He replied, "The tornado was impressive, but not nearly as destructive as the ones in Kansas and Iowa. Our 5-person State Support Team (SST) from R8 was in the state EOC within two hours of the impact and we launched a second team to Wyoming the next morning. On the initial helicopter fly-over that same afternoon, our SST Team Leader was on the helicopter with the Governor. Twenty-four hours after impact we had more than 50 FEMA on site doing communications (MERS) and preliminary damage assessment (IA & PA). Best of all, the Presidential Declaration was requested, processed here, sent to FEMA, sent to the WH [White House], and approved within 48 hours over the holiday weekend."

I've been involved in many disaster response activities at the state and local level. The speed with which FEMA Region VIII responded and also the State of Colorado in requesting the disaster declaration is I think very impressive!

Maybe things are really getting better. Way to go FEMA!