2007 California Wildfires

Wildfires in California are not rare occurrences or something way out of the ordinary. With southern California's strong Santa Ana winds and dry terrane its only a matter of time before something sparks. There have been several large wildfires in California over the past decade and responses and suppression efforts have improved overtime, but fires of 2007 were more devastating than anyone could have expected.

With the wildfires burning more that half a million acres the response to these fires were overwhelming. From the two press releases I read by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger I felt that he was handling the situation the best of his ability. After the fires started FEMA and President Bush both took action to help with the situation out side of what Governor Schwarzenegger could handle. In Governor Schwarzeneggers press releases he is very reassuring in that he is doing everything in his power to help the citizens of California. He set up grants and resources to aid the people who's lives have been directly effected by the fire. The one thing I noticed that I thought Governor Schwarzenegger did good was all the additional resources he brought in. From what I felt and understood by his press releases was that even though his administration was in charge, he was handing a lot of the responsibilities and decisions off to people who were more qualified in these disasters. A few things I think he could have talked about in these releases was what his actions were going to be immediately after the fire.

Communication is the biggest factor when dealing with any kind of disaster like the 2007 California Wildfires. From first contact with the people about the situation to what will be done six months after the disaster is over. You can have the greatest leader taking control of a situation but if they do not know how to communicate there plan, it will do no good. I think Governor Schwarzenegger did a good job keeping the people informed of the situation, and I am sure any mistake that was made will be learned from for the future.