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Homeland Security: California response working

Oct 25 16:40 PM US/Eastern

Homeland Security: California response working

WASHINGTON, DC: The southern California wildfires disaster response of federal, state and local partners "working together' is operating as it should, an administration official said.

The role of the federal government is to support state and local response, "which is exactly what we've been doing since these fires started," Fran Townsend, assistant to the president for Homeland Security and Counterterrorism, said during a media briefing.

She was unable to provide the cost of the federal commitment, which began Sunday with the fire management assistance grants.

While it was difficult draw comparisons, Townsend said the wildfires were the most challenging natural disaster the federal government faced since Hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast.

"This is over a wider swath of area and certainly there's a larger body of people affected ... but it's hard to compare natural disasters," she said. "Floods are very different in terms of the scale of damage than tornadoes. Tornadoes are different from fires. And so it's hard to compare. All natural disasters are not equal."

Townsend said airborne water drops are more effective since the winds shifted, but "I think it's too soon to say" whether firefighters turned the corner...

-- Source: UPI, http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=upiUPI-20071025-162553-7431&show_article=1