GOVERNOR: Good afternoon, everyone. First of all, let me just say it's-I want to say thank you to Supervisor Dion and Supervisor Hans Burger for being here with us. And then Senator Dutton, thank you very much. Where is Senator Dutton? Thank you. And Jim Brulte, Assemblyman Adams and Sheriff Penrod. And also General Wade. I want to thank you very much for being such a great leader of the National Guard and helping us with the fires.
As you know, that this is a tragedy, all this happening to California: We have 16 fires right now and we have more than 6,000 firefighters that are battling those fires. We have thousands of trucks out there working. We have so far lost 750 homes statewide and 68,000 homes are being threatened right now, to be destroyed. We have so far 1 death and 18 firefighters have been injured. 4 of them I visited yesterday at the hospital in San Diego. They have severe burn wounds and so on.
And so we have had an unfortunate situation that we have three things come together; very dry areas, very hot weather, and then a lot of wind, and so this makes the perfect storm for a fire. And so we have brave firefighters who are fighting all over the State of California. I want to thank them very much for their courage, for their hard work, working 24 hours around the clock. And we have the most experienced, the best-trained firefighters in the world, without any doubt, and the best equipped firefighters in the world. I think we have fought so many fires here in California, it's something that happens every year. Fires actually start even earlier than ever before. And so this is why we have great hopes that these fires will be put out as quickly as possible.
We have gotten tremendous help from everybody, the locals, the state and the federal government are working together. Yesterday I've spoken several times with President Bush, who has helped us to declare a state of emergency for our state and for those seven counties where we have the fires. I have declared a state of emergency a few days ago already so that money is coming through for those counties from the state, and also from the federal government, which is very important. And unlike previous emergencies or natural disasters, this time everyone responded very quickly, and there's a great coordination between everyone.
I also want to thank law enforcement, the various different departments for working very closely with the fire department, and everyone coordinating. In San Diego we have seen evacuations of over 300,000 people. Here you have evacuation of more than 15,000 people, and all of that went very smoothly. I visited the evacuation centers yesterday night until midnight, if it is Qualcomm-there were approximately 8,000 people there, and they were treated well. We worked all afternoon yesterday to make sure that those evacuation centers get the food-I mean, you have to think about sometimes the little things that fall through the cracks-if there is enough baby formula there, for instance, in those places, because there are a lot of babies. Do they have enough diapers, do they have toilet paper, do they have the cots, do they have the blankets? Do we have enough nurses and medical teams there? Because there is a certain percentage of people always that need medical attention.
We went to another place at Del Mar where we had 1,800 vulnerable citizens there from nursing homes that had to be evacuated, and they needed medical attention, so we had to get doctors there and nurses, we had to get ambulances there, we had to get medical facilities where they could be transported-some of them needed dialysis, some of them had heart problems,
diabetes and so on. So it's very important that you think about all those details when you have an emergency like that, and when you have evacuations and fires and so on. But everyone worked together really well; we had a lot of volunteers, and there was a great spirit amongst all those people.
Now, here at this fire here, at the Grass Valley Fire, we have 5,000 acres that have burned so far, and I was told over 200 homes have been destroyed here. And I've seen some of the homes just now, and it is really sad when you see that. I mean, I'm heartbroken to see those kinds of things, because these are people that have saved their money for many, many years, and they finally got their home, the live in their homes, and then all of a sudden, from one hour to the next, those homes are destroyed. So I think that we have to do everything that we can to help those people on the state level, local level, and also federal level, to get them the money to get back on their feet as quickly as possible. I think there are 1,500 homes that are threatened right now by the fires; there are homes being destroyed right now as we speak. There are 500 firefighters that are fighting.
So we just came in with the helicopter from San Diego, and we flew over and got an aerial view of the fire. And I have to say that these are really some of the biggest fires that I've ever seen, and very intense fires. So I think it's very important that we get those tankers, those airplanes, those aircraft in here as quickly as possible. They are ready to go, they are ready to drop water. But as you probably know, they can't take off right now because of the wind, so we are just waiting for the winds to die down so these air tankers can be used.
But I'm here to pay full attention to all of you. You should know that you're not out there by yourself fighting those fires, that the state is there to help you. I wanted to come here to put the spotlight on those fires so that we get the state and federal help as quickly as possible also here, and that we're going to help you then rebuild this area as quickly as possible.
So with that I want to leave it to you-oh, but first of all, let me just say to Senator Dutton, I would like you to come up and say a few words here, because you have been very concerned, and you and I have talked about it on the phone, and so it's great to be here together with you to deal with these fires. Thank you. Please welcome Senator Dutton.
SENATOR DUTTON: Thank you, Governor. I want to thank you also for being a true man of action, because you've always said "Action, action, action," and frankly that's what we have here right now. I want to thank all the firefighters. I'm thrilled the Governor took the time out of his busy schedule to get some firsthand information as to what's going on here on our beloved mountain. And Governor, I just want to say, these people here have really done a tremendous job up here. I'm very proud of our law enforcement, Highway Patrol, Sheriff, as well as the County Fire and all the local agencies responding. And to the people I just want to say, this is one of those times, too, that it's not over yet; we all need to work together. It's very important. We've been, unfortunately, through this drill before. And there are going to be some people in need of things, so I want people to start
thinking about how they can help out individually, join together as a community to help those in need. We've got a lot of centers that are operational around the immediate area. We're going to need food, we're going to need clothing, bedding, things of that nature, housing-replacement housing. So I want everybody to start thinking about that now, because we know it's going to be needed.
So I want to thank you again, Governor, for being here, and at this time I want to introduce Anthony Adams. This is his district as well. So, Anthony? (Applause)
ASSEMBLYMAN ADAMS: I too want to thank the Governor for being here and just showcasing our community in a way that hopefully will bring resources to it in a needed and much appreciated way. I also want to implore all of you to be involved. If you have not been personally devastated by the tragedy that are these fires, then you have an opportunity to reach out to these communities via your donations, your time, your energy and your prayers. And I would implore you to do that, to be a part of the solution. The state stands ready to assist you in every way, but there is never a substitute for your own personal involvement and for the friendship and the care and support of a neighbor, so I would encourage you to do that, and I thank you so much for everything that you do to help abate this incredible tragedy and make the lives of the people who have been devastated by it better. Thank you.
GOVERNOR: All right. Yes?
Q: Martha Mendoza with the Associated Press. Orange County Fire Chief Prather is saying that the state failed to implement the Santiago Fire Plan, and that a great deal of support would have been available and a lot of this would have been preventable. He's saying that his own crews are having to shelter in people's homes as a result of the state's inaction on the Santiago Fire Plan.
GOVERNOR: Well, I'm not aware of that, but what I am aware of is that everyone here is-if it is San Diego, I have visited pretty much all the fires, and so far everyone has been very complimentary about how well everyone worked together, and how well coordinated everything is between the locals, the state, and also the federal government, how quickly we responded, to declare a state of emergency so that money goes to the locals. And I think that the one thing that we have learned from the last tragedies, especially from the fire of 2003, that everyone responds much quicker, the way law enforcement, the fire department, if it is the locals or the state, or on the federal level, everyone came together very quickly. So I'm very pleased with everything, and I'm very excited that everyone is working so well together this time; it's a quick response.
Q: I just want to be clear: You're not familiar with the Santiago Fire Plan, or you're not familiar with his position?
GOVERNOR: I'm saying I'm very happy that everyone is working so well together, and there is such great enthusiasm. And we will do everything we can to be one family and help each other, because we want to make sure that all those communities will not get stuck by themselves, that we will help them rebuild and fight those fires.
Q: Governor, you've been briefed by the heads of several local agencies here. Is there anything that they've requested that can't be made to happen?
GOVERNOR: To change the weather. I think that everyone has felt that they have gotten a lot of help from everybody. And like yesterday, we saw that again, how quickly the carts came together, and the blankets,
and the food. I mean, we called, for instance, the Grocers Association of California. And man, literally within minutes, the trucks rolled out with the water supply for the various different places where people were staying overnight. I think that the way the blankets came through as quickly as possible, and like I said, the baby formulas and all of those kind of things. So I thought that people felt that everyone got together and came together. But everyone, at the same time, complains about the weather. But we can't do anything about it. We have to just pray that the wind goes away, because as soon as we get rid of the wind, then the firefighters can really put an end to the fires all over the place.
Q: Governor, how much air support is available when the winds die down?
GOVERNOR: Pardon me?
Q: How much air support is available when the winds die down?
GOVERNOR: Well, we have 90 craft so far here in California, and we have gotten, like I said, 6 more from the federal government. So there's a lot of help coming in. And we are-again, I also want to let you know that after the 2003 fires we made agreements with the neighboring states, so that if there is something happening there in those neighboring states where they need our help, we are ready to help them, and if we need their help, they help us. And they have been sending us manpower, they have been sending us aircraft, and they have been sending us equipment and resources and so on. So this has also been really helpful.
Q: Are there enough firefighters? And has the Iraq War deployment (Inaudible) has that hurt?
GOVERNOR: Well, again, we are very happy we have General Wade here, he can address that-that as soon as I asked the General to put some extra resources and make them available, to make manpower available, the General jumped into action. And he can talk about this briefly.
Q: What is your name?
GOVERNOR: General Wade.
GENERAL WADE: Yeah, Major General William Wade. I'm the Adjutant General for the California National Guard. When the Governor called, the first thing he said is to pull soldiers and airmen off Operation Jumpstart on the border. That's what he said he would do should something strike our state. That's exactly what we did, and we were able to deploy 200 soldiers and airmen right from the border into action within hours. We still have a very strong Guard. We have at least 15,000 soldiers and airmen still to be called on. They are performing very well, doing support duties down here in the south area, with helping do evacuations, providing security, helping move supplies. And whatever they're called on to do, we're prepared to do it at this time.
Q: Governor, what do you say to people who don't evacuate and follow the mandatory orders?
GOVERNOR: Well, I think it is extremely important, and I always say to the people, if you're told to evacuate, evacuate. Don't question anything, just get out of your house, because safety is the most important thing, and I think that law enforcement in each one of those fires has made sure that there are no burglaries or anything like this going on while you're gone from your property. I think that's why I said this is so important that we have this great kind of working relationship and everyone came together, because law enforcement is extremely important in these kinds of evacuation procedures.
Thank you very much. Thank you.
