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| An image taken during the fires that struck Puerto Rico late last week |
The Department of Homeland Security's Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) Administrator Craig Fugate met today with Puerto Rico Governor Luis Fortuño to discuss FEMA's partnership with Puerto Rico, as well as the response to the explosions and fires that struck the island late last week. Over the weekend, President Obama signed an Emergency Declaration for Puerto Rico, making federal assistance available for emergency protective measures.
"It was an honor and pleasure to meet with Governor Fortuño as we work together to recover from the recent explosions and fires in Puerto Rico," said Administrator Fugate. "As this incident underscores, emergencies can happen any time, any where, and the more we do now to build and strengthen our national emergency response team, the better our response will be. The public also plays a key role in these efforts, and the more individuals do now to prepare their families, including developing a family disaster plan, the more effective our response team will be."
"A swift and coordinated response between our local first responders and federal partners led by FEMA enabled us to quickly secure the health and safety of residents and rescue teams, and contain and extinguish the fires," Gov. Fortuño said. "We will continue to work closely with FEMA on the recovery effort so that we can return life to normal for those impacted by this incident."
This meeting built on efforts already underway by Administrator Fugate to continue to expand our nation's emergency response team. Governors, along with our state, local, tribal, non-profit, private sector partners, and most importantly the public are essential to our successful response to emergencies and disasters.
FEMA continues to work to provide emergency protective measures to Puerto Rico and will stay in close coordination with the Governor as the recovery stages of this disaster continue.
