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Fugate Obama's FEMA Pick

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By BILLY HOUSE

bhouse@tampatrib.com

Published: March 5, 2009

WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama announced Wednesday his intention to nominate Florida's disaster management chief, Craig Fugate, to head the much-criticized Federal Emergency Management Agency.

The Jacksonville native's selection comes amid a heated debate in Washington over the future of the agency, which is now located within the Department of Homeland Security. Some are pushing for FEMA to be given a separate Cabinet-level status of its own.

Fugate could not be reached Wednesday. It is typical for presidential nominees not to comment publicly until their Senate confirmation hearings.

As early as today, Fugate is expected to join Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano on a trip to New Orleans, ground-zero for what was widely regarded as an inept response by FEMA to damage from Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

The Obama administration hopes to stress in New Orleans that, in Fugate, FEMA is getting a seasoned professional.

In October of 2001, Fugate was appointed by former Gov. Jeb Bush as Director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management. In December 2006, Gov. Charlie Crist reappointed Fugate as director, the role he continues today.

"From his experience as a first responder to his strong leadership as Florida's Emergency Manager, Craig has what it takes to help us improve our preparedness, response and recovery efforts and I can think of no one better to lead FEMA," Obama said in a statement. "I'm confident that Craig is the right person for the job and will ensure that the failures of the past are never repeated."

As director of the Florida Division of Emergency Management, Fugate, 49, now oversees an agency that coordinates disaster response, recovery and preparedness with each of the state's 67 counties and local governments.

In his career, Fugate has been a volunteer firefighter, paramedic, and a lieutenant with the Alachua County Fire Rescue. He also served 10 years as the Emergency Manager for Alachua County.

He became the Division of Emergency Management's chief of the bureau of preparedness and response in 1997 and in four years there built a nationally recognized emergency management program.

He was appointed by Bush as director of the division shortly after the Sept. 11 terror attacks, given the task of managing Homeland Security funding and developing Florida's own security strategy in conjunction with the Department of Law Enforcement.

Also during his tenure as head of the division, Florida was hit by four major hurricanes in 2004 (Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne).

The next year, Florida was hit by four more hurricanes, with hurricanes Dennis and Wilma both registering as major Category 3 or greater storms.

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