Rebuilding Will Take Time, Cooperation
The fires that ravaged our region this fall have been contained. Now, the hard work of rebuilding begins. President Bush traveled west to see the damage and promised help. While it is devastating to hear the numbers of people lost, homes gone, and communities that are faced with rebuilding, it's important to remember that there are greater numbers of people saved, homes protected, and communities sheltered by the tireless efforts of firefighters.
More than 14,000 firefighters from five different states were called upon to fight these fires, which in the course of the past three weeks, consumed over 745,000 acres, destroyed over 3,500 homes, and took the lives of twenty-two individuals. Among those lives lost was firefighter Steven L. Rucker, who died in the line of duty on Wednesday, October 29, 2003, battling the Cedar Fire in San Diego County. His life, and the work of his colleagues, was recently honored on the floor of the House of Representatives.
We are already working toward rebuilding, mitigating for potential mudslides and erosion during the rainy season, and looking at every opportunity to prevent another disaster of this magnitude. The firefighters are aided in this by support from a number of federal agencies including the U.S. Forest Service, the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Small Business Administration, the Army Corps of Engineers, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Natural Resources Conservation Service. If you or one of your neighbors has questions about services these agencies can provide, please do not hesitate to contact my office in Glendora, 626-852-2626.
The work have before us will continue for many months to come. We are resolved, in remembering Steve Rucker and the other fire victims, as well as in sharing the devastation with those who lost their homes and businesses, to do all we can to ensure the expedited delivery of federal disaster assistance dollars, to coordinate with federal, state, and local agencies to assist in the recovery effort, and most importantly, to engage in preventing further damage from potentially damaging winter storms.
