FEMA Pulls "Around-The-Clock Duty"
Release Date: July 5, 2002
Release Number: HQ-02-101c
Washington, DC -- With the Fourth of July holiday calling for special vigilance, The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) maintained around-the-clock operations at FEMA headquarters in Washington D.C. and at its 10 regional offices located across the United States.
FEMA activated its headquarters Emergency Support Team (EST) operations center and ten regional operations centers Wednesday, July 3, to ensure a rapid and constant flow of information from local officials. The regional centers, stretching from Boston to Seattle, have been in constant contact with city, county and state emergency operations centers that are responsible for monitoring law enforcement operations. In Washington, FEMA headquarters had operations staff working twelve-hour shifts collecting and coordinating information from the regions and from FEMA liaisons physically located at law enforcement operations centers at the FBI, the District of Columbia and the U. S. Park Police.
"The information coming into the regions and to FEMA headquarters helped us be ready for anything that came along requiring FEMA action," said FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh. "Having a strong core of FEMA operations personnel on duty with others on call provided a level of readiness that the American people certainly deserved during this period of heightened awareness."
During these day and night operations, FEMA was also closely monitoring flood-ravaged counties in central and south Texas and deploying disaster assistance workers, monitoring the catastrophic wild fires still burning in New Mexico, Colorado, Wyoming, the Dakotas, Utah and California and monitoring Typhoon Chataan in the western Pacific that impacted the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam Thursday.
Also Thursday, President Bush declared 10 central and south Texas counties federal disaster areas, making federal aid available to a region flooded this week by up to 24 inches of rain. The floodwaters have killed at least seven people and caused extensive damage. Surveys are continuing in other areas in Texas and additional assistance and counties may be added after more damage assessments are completed.
Here's a quick look at FEMA's "Around the Clock Duty" .......
- " Beginning at noon on Wednesday, July 3, FEMA maintained 24-hour-a-day operations centers at FEMA headquarters and at 10 regional offices across the United States.
- " FEMA processed information collected from state and local emergency officials and from FEMA liaisons located at the FBI, the District of Columbia and U.S. Park Police operations centers.
- " "The information coming into the regions and to FEMA headquarters helped us be ready for anything that came along requiring FEMA action," said FEMA Director Joe Allbaugh.
- " In addition, FEMA was also closely monitoring flooding in Texas, wildfires in many western states and Typhoon Chataan that impacted the Federated States of Micronesia and Guam Thursday.
- " President Bush declared 10 Texas counties federal disaster areas on Thursday, making federal aid available to a region flooded this week by up to 24 inches of rain.
Last Modified: Wednesday, 13-Aug-2003 11:42:14