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Florida's Emergency Management Director Fugate To Head FEMA

Tribune file photo (2008)

Craig Fugate, director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, center, is flanked by Secretary of State Kurt Browning, left, and Gov. Charlie Crist, as he talks about flooding from Tropical Storm Fay.

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The Associated Press

Published: March 4, 2009

Updated: 03/04/2009 12:44 pm

TALLAHASSEE - Florida emergency management director Craig Fugate will be nominated by President Barack Obama to lead the Federal Emergency Management Agency, an official familiar with the appointment said Wednesday.

The official said on condition of anonymity that the appointment would be made public later Wednesday. Anonymity was requested because the official wasn't authorized to make the announcement.

Fugate declined to discuss the appointment earlier Wednesday as he headed to a meeting with Gov. Charlie Crist.

Fugate was named director of Florida's Division of Emergency Management in 2001 by former Gov. Jeb Bush and retained by Crist. He previously served as the assistant director for nearly five years.

Crist's office had no immediate comment on the Fugate nomination.

Fugate has been praised for his efforts steering Florida successfully through numerous hurricanes in the past decade, particularly the eight destructive hurricanes that clobbered the state in 2004 and 2005.

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