President declares emergency disaster for Texas; FEMA to assist

The head of the U.S. Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency announced that President George W. Bush has declared an emergency exists in the state of Texas and ordered federal aid to supplement state and local response efforts in the area struck by wildfires beginning March 14, 2008, and continuing.

FEMA Administrator David Paulison said that president's action authorizes FEMA to coordinate all disaster-relief efforts which have the purpose of alleviating the hardship and suffering caused by the emergency on the local population, and to provide appropriate assistance for required emergency measures, authorized under Title V of the Stafford Act, to save lives and to protect property and public health and safety, and to lessen or avert the threat of a catastrophe in the following counties:

Anderson, Andrews, Archer, Armstrong, Atascosa, Bailey, Bandera, Baylor, Bell, Bexar, Blanco, Borden, Bosque, Brewster, Briscoe, Brooks, Brown, Burleson, Burnet, Caldwell, Callahan, Carson, Castro, Cherokee, Childress, Clay, Cochran, Coke, Coleman, Collin, Collingsworth, Comal, Comanche, Concho, Cooke, Coryell, Crane, Crockett, Crosby, Culberson, Dawson, Deaf Smith, Delta, Denton, Dickens, Dimmit, Duval, Eastland, Ector, Edwards, Ellis, Erath, Falls, Fannin, Fisher, Floyd, Foard, Frio and Gaines.

Also, Garza, Gillespie, Glasscock, Gonzales, Gray, Grayson, Guadalupe, Hale, Hall, Hamilton, Hansford, Hardeman, Haskell, Hays, Hemphill, Hidalgo, Hill, Hockley, Hood, Hopkins, Houston, Howard, Hudspeth, Hunt, Hutchinson, Irion, Jack, Jeff Davis, Jim Hogg, Jim Wells, Johnson, Jones, Karnes, Kaufman, Kendall, Kent, Kerr, Kimble, King, Kinney, Kleberg, Knox, LaSalle, Lamar, Lamb, Lampasas, Liberty, Limestone, Lipscomb, Live Oak, Llano, Loving, Lubbock, Lynn, Martin, Mason, Maverick, McCulloch, McLennan and Medina.

Plus, Menard, Midland, Milam, Mills, Mitchell, Montague, Montgomery, Moore, Motley, Navarro, Nolan, Nueces, Oldham, Orange, Palo Pinto, Parker, Parmer, Pecos, Potter, Presidio, Rains, Randall, Reagan, Real, Reeves, Refugio, Robertson, Rockwall, Runnels, Rusk, San Saba, Schleicher, Somervell, Starr, Stephens, Sterling, Stonewall, Sutton, Swisher, Tarrant, Taylor, Terrell, Terry, Throckmorton, Tom Green, Travis, Upton, Uvalde, Val Verde, Van Zandt, Walker, Waller, Ward, Washington, Wheeler, Wichita, Wilbarger, Willacy, Williamson, Wilson, Winkler, Wise, Young, Zapata, and Zavala.

FEMA is authorized to identify, mobilize and provide at its discretion, equipment and resources necessary to alleviate the impacts of the emergency. Emergency protective measures, limited to direct federal assistance, will be provided at 75 percent federal funding.

Paulison named Kenneth G. Clark as the federal coordinating officer for federal recovery operations in the affected area.

FEMA coordinates the federal government's role in preparing for, preventing, mitigating the effects of, responding to, and recovering from all domestic disasters, whether natural or manmade, including acts of terror.